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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23750779">Equivocation</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agranulocytosis/pseuds/Agranulocytosis'>Agranulocytosis</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 4, Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Crossover, F/M, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 16:14:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,116</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23750779</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agranulocytosis/pseuds/Agranulocytosis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Yu Narukami wakes up in a world where things are nothing like they should be. Once more, he must see through the veil of deceit, and find his way to the truth.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>55</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Started playing Persona 5 Royal during the lockdown, wondered how on Earth I'd been sleeping on the series for so long, and then promptly started on P4 on an emulator. Decided to try writing up something as a break before picking up P3, which resulted in this story. Hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"And summer’s lease hath all too short a date."</p>
<p>- Shakespeare, Sonnet 18</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Oi, kid…”</p>
<p>“Five more minutes…” Yu Narukami groaned, clumsily swatting away the hand firmly pressing against his shoulder.</p>
<p>
  <em>Ugh… my head hurts…</em>
</p>
<p>“Oi, kid! This isn’t a place to take a nap!”</p>
<p>He felt himself being shoved more forcefully from where he lay in the ground, and resigning himself, began to slowly open his eyes. He immediately regretted his decision, wincing from a combination of both the throbbing pain in his head and the glaring sunlight in the sky above.</p>
<p>He turned toward the one that had woke him up, expecting it to be some kind of prank from Yosuke, but –</p>
<p>“Hey, wait a second,” the voice was now laced with suspicion, as an unfamiliar face occupied the entirely of his field of view. “You look like a high school kid. Playing truant?”</p>
<p>Now that he had a few more seconds to adjust to the sudden change in sunlight and catch his bearings, he could finally make sense of just why he was being unceremoniously woken up by the police officer in front of him. It didn’t make sense. School term hadn’t even started yet.</p>
<p>More importantly, though, <em>why</em> was he being rudely prodded by some police officer out in the middle of nowhere? He shut his eyes tightly again, ignoring the ache that still persisted in his mind, trying to recall just how he ended up in… well, wherever he currently was.</p>
<p>There was a farewell party for him, he could remember that much. Had Yosuke or Rise, or any one of his other friends brought alcohol along?</p>
<p>No, that didn’t make sense, Uncle wouldn’t have allowed it, and they knew better than to do anything like that with Nanako around. But then, what else could it have been?</p>
<p>It was then, of course, that he remembered.</p>
<p>Adachi’s letter. Confronting the one who had silently watched things unfold. Entering through the television at Junes once more. Fighting their way through hordes of Shadows.</p>
<p>Confronting an actual, literal <em>Goddess</em> who had created the Midnight Channel, and who had observing them all this while as the murders unfolded.</p>
<p>
  <em>Izanami.</em>
</p>
<p><em>That’s right,</em> he thought, although now panic was beginning to set in. <em>We fought her. Everyone was dragged by those black tendrils back into the fog. I faced my Shadow, and unlocked a new Persona, but then…</em></p>
<p>Everything else was a blank. He remembered piercing through the fog of illusions with the orb that Margaret had given him, returning to face Izanami once more to bring his friends back and put and end to everything.</p>
<p>Frustratingly, he couldn’t remember anything else beyond that.</p>
<p>“Oi, kid, are you even listening to me?” The irate officer scolded. “Do I have to take you down to the station?”</p>
<p>“No, that won’t be necessary,” Yu finally said as he pushed himself up to his feet, and was surprised at how his voice was hoarse and cracked. “Sorry for the trouble, officer.”</p>
<p>He blinked in mild surprise as he now recognised just exactly where he was. The Samegawa river was somewhere he’d been many times before, especially since Nanako’s recovery form her kidnapping over the last few months. She’d been adamant about him spending time playing with her, since she had only a few more months left with him before he left.</p>
<p>More importantly, as his headache could attest to, the sun shone brightly through <em>clear skies.</em></p>
<p>There was no fog. They’d stopped Izanami from merging the Midnight Channel with Inaba and the rest of their world.</p>
<p>Still, though… something didn’t sit right with him. He couldn’t remember just how he’d ended up sleeping in the dirt of the Samegawa riverbank, and that mildly irked him.</p>
<p>“Get going, kid,” the officer said gruffly, eyeing him for a few seconds before walking back to the main road. He paused at the steps, giving a final few parting words. “And stay in school! If I see you napping here again, I’m taking you down to the station!”</p>
<p>Yu didn’t know why the officer was making such a fuss, since the school term hadn’t even started yet. It was why he had to say farewell to his friends and new family and return to the city, after all.</p>
<p>He shook his head. There were more important matters to deal with. He didn’t quite know just what had happened, but simply standing around there wasn’t going to give him any new information. He needed to get home, to find Nanako and uncle Doujima, and then call his friends to organise a final meetup at Junes.</p>
<p>Plan in mind, he jogged quickly back toward the house he’d called home for close to a year. He apologised rapidly each time he almost bumped into someone in his haste, but he couldn’t spare any more time beyond that. He needed to make sure that Nanako was safe, that everyone had been brought back from –</p>
<p><em>“Senpai!”</em> <em>Rise screamed, as spectral hands reached up from below, her body already dragged midway past her torso into the black void below. “Help –“</em></p>
<p>
  <em>Her cries fell short, as with a final tug, the entirety of her body vanished into the ground.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Yu!” Yosuke shouted, and Yu felt himself being forcefully dragged out from where he’d been sinking down below. “Don’t space out, now! We need to keep –“</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>More limbs coiled and pulled at Yosuke. Despite his desperate struggles, he, too, vanished into the same blackness that had already claimed Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Teddie, and Naoto.</em>
</p>
<p><em>“…’re counting on you!”</em> <em>Yu could just barely make out Yosuke’s final words, before even he was forced down into the inky fog.</em></p>
<p>– <em>No. </em>They had to be alive. His pace quickened, heart thumping rapidly not just from exertion alone, and he soon found himself standing in front of the Doujima residence. He turned the handle, but it remained locked. He fumbled around quickly in the bag at his side, searching for the key, but couldn’t find it at all. After a few seconds, still panting madly, he gave up, and went for a more direct approach.</p>
<p>“Nanako!” he shouted, banging loudly at the door. “Are you in there? It’s me!”</p>
<p>No answer.</p>
<p>“Nanako!” he shouted once more, desperation entering his voice. “Answer me!”</p>
<p>There was still no answer.</p>
<p>A chilly dread was now setting in, but he refused to put his deepest fears into words. It couldn’t be. It simply <em>couldn’t</em>.</p>
<p>He quickly dug out the phone in his pocket, hastily entering in the string of digits he’d memorised by heart.</p>
<p>
  <em>Please…</em>
</p>
<p>He could hear the faint ringing of the phone inside the house. One ring. Two rings.</p>
<p>“<em>Hello?” </em>A familiar voice came over the line.</p>
<p>Immediately, Yu felt all the tension in his body that had built up in his mad rush home leaving him, replaced with a sense of relief rivalled only by the time he’d seen Nanako return to life in the hospital.</p>
<p>“Nanako! It’s me!” he replied, making no effort to hide any of the emotion he currently felt. “I’m outside! I’ve been knocking on the door for a while now, couldn’t you hear?”</p>
<p>
  <em>“Ummm…”</em>
</p>
<p> There were a few more seconds of silence over the line.</p>
<p>“Nanako?”</p>
<p>She must have set the phone down, since all he now heard was a series of flat chimes. He placed the phone back in his pocket, as he could just faintly pick out footsteps approaching the other side of the door.</p>
<p>“Nanako!” he greeted, already about to step forward and hug her tightly when he saw the door begin to open.</p>
<p>He only managed a single step, before he stared, wide-eyed, at the person fidgeting nervously on the other side.</p>
<p>“Nana…ko?”</p>
<p>“Ummm…” She didn’t look him in the eye, shying away slightly behind the door. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I remember you…”</p>
<p>-o-o-o-</p>
<p>The girl before him was not Nanako, and yet he knew without a doubt that she was. She was far taller than Nanako had been, and her speech much more refined than the adorable childish tone she spoke with, but every single other feature of her practically screamed of the little sister he’d gradually grown close to over the past year; one he’d do anything to protect.</p>
<p>It didn’t make any bit of sense, and with the sheer shock he now felt seeing this familiar stranger, all he could do was stand there staring at her wordlessly.</p>
<p>It was Nanako. He knew that for a fact.</p>
<p>But why had she grown taller – and now that he thought about it, seemed <em>older</em>? Why didn’t she recognise him? Why hadn’t she opened the door?</p>
<p>Just as quickly, it hit him.</p>
<p>
  <em>Nanako doesn’t open the door to strangers.</em>
</p>
<p>“Mister?” He blinked, his head jerking slightly, as Nanako finally stepped closer. “Are you alright? You look a little pale…”</p>
<p>Nothing was making any sense.</p>
<p>“Mister?” she repeated, slightly more concerned now. “Are you okay?”</p>
<p>“Nanako…” his voice trailed off, his mind racing all the while, thinking furiously to try and put some sense into all of this. “It’s Yu! You don’t recognise me?”</p>
<p>“Umm… sorry…” she said sheepishly, sounding almost guilty, every bit the Nanako that he knew. “But I don’t think I’ve ever met you…”</p>
<p>It was impossible, and yet he knew that it was the truth. Nanako didn’t lie.</p>
<p>Just what the hell had happened back with Izanami?</p>
<p>“Mister?”</p>
<p>He peeked inside the room. Everything was just as he remembered it being: the coffee table, the place they’d sit in front of the television to eat, even the position of the sofa. There was an ashtray on the table by the sofa, and a folded-up newspaper lying abandoned on the cushion. No doubt his uncle had been reading it just after dinner the night before.</p>
<p><em>A newspaper</em>.</p>
<p>“Hey, Nanako,” he said, ignoring how his voice sounded strained. “Could I see that newspaper for a second, please?”</p>
<p>“Okay,” she said only after a moment of hesitation. “Wait over here, okay?”</p>
<p>He watched her as she made her way over, his mind rapidly conjuring up scenario after scenario of what could have happened. Was this some illusion of the fog, some kind of false life Izanami was forcing him to see? Or was this reality?</p>
<p>No. He had to stay focused. Nanako tidied up the loose pages together, before returning over to the door. He took the newspaper from her with a quick word of thanks, and desperately looked over the front page.</p>
<p>Several details struck him at once.</p>
<p>The date. <em>June 1<sup>st</sup>, 2016.</em></p>
<p>The bolded headlines. <em>Concerns mount over unexplained mental breakdowns, pressure escalating on public officials.</em></p>
<p>The advertisement in the corner. <em>Rise Kujikawa’s newest album, Sapphire, has just been released! Listen to the twenty-year old rising star’s latest songs on the following streaming platforms, or buy a physical copy today!</em></p>
<p>He was starting to get a bit of a clearer picture, now, but none of it made the slightest bit of damned <em>sense</em>.</p>
<p>“Mister!”</p>
<p>He blinked, forcing himself out of his thoughts and found himself level with Nanako’s concerned face. When had his knees given way?</p>
<p>“Sorry,” he mumbled.</p>
<p>“Are you <em>sure</em> you’re alright?”</p>
<p>Slightly more than five <em>years</em> had passed by in an instant, and he didn’t have the slightest clue as to why, Nanako didn’t seem to remember him at all, and most frustratingly of all, he couldn’t remember a thing about how the battle with Izanami had ended. If this <em>was</em> reality, then…</p>
<p>“I’m fine,” he lied. “Nanako – this is going to sound weird, but I need to ask some questions, okay?”</p>
<p>“What questions? How do you know my name?”</p>
<p>He ignored her question. There was no good answer he could come up with. “Five years ago, were there any strange occurrences in Inaba?”</p>
<p>“I don’t think so,” she said, scrunching her face. “I was only seven then, but I don’t remember anything out of the usual in particular.”</p>
<p>“And you’ve never heard of the Midnight Channel?”</p>
<p>“No, what’s that?” she asked curiously in return. “I’m not allowed to watch TV that late.”</p>
<p>“And Chie, Yosuke , Yukiko, Teddie, Kanji, Rise, Naoto – do any of these names sound familiar to you?”</p>
<p>“Oh!” Recognition finally entered her voice, but his own relief at that was a fleeting one. “Chie’s dad’s new subordinate, right? And Mister Yosuke’s the nice guy over at Junes! I see Miss Yukiko around in the shopping district when she buys things, and I know Mister Kanji from when he helps out at the textile store! And the idol Rise came back to Inaba a few years ago when she took a break from her career!” Her spark in her eyes dulled slightly after that. “I don’t think I know of a Teddie or Naoto in Inaba now, though…”</p>
<p>He was starting to get a picture, now. For whatever reason, this world seemed to behave as if the events of the Midnight Channel had <em>never </em>happened. Rise would still have returned, since her decision to stop her idol career had happened before she even knew anything about the Midnight Channel, but without Adachi’s murders, Teddie and Naoto wouldn’t have had any reason to come to Inaba.</p>
<p>Was all of this happening because they defeated Izanami? Had that erased the Midnight Channel completely, alongside everything that had happened <em>because </em>of it?</p>
<p><em>No, that doesn’t make sense</em>, he thought furiously. <em>I would still have stayed at Uncle’s place. Nanako would still recognise me</em>.</p>
<p>But what <em>else</em> could have happened? Even something as far-fetched as time travel into the future was plainly out, since past events had changed as well. He needed to ask someone – anyone –</p>
<p><em>Igor. Margaret.</em> They would have the answers.</p>
<p>Hurriedly, he dug around in his pocket once more, but to his dismay and rapidly escalating dread, the Velvet Key was missing. All he had was his wallet.</p>
<p>Still, he took that out, as a new idea entered his mind. Ignoring the look of growing concern and curiosity on the face of the little sister who didn’t know he even existed, he took a look at his identity card.</p>
<p>Yu Narukami. His name was unchanged, as was his date of birth.</p>
<p>What <em>was</em> different, was the <em>year.</em></p>
<p>For whatever reason, his identity now stated that he was born in 1999, a full <em>five years</em> later than he knew it should be.</p>
<p>“Nanako,” he said slowly. “Do you have any cousins on your dad’s side?”</p>
<p>She nodded. “Yeah! There’s cousin Souji! I think he’s twenty-one this year?” She paused for a moment. “Oh, yeah! I remember now! He came to stay with us for a bit five years ago!” Then, she gasped. “Oh! You look a little like him, actually!”</p>
<p>“He’s your dad’s sister’s son, right?”</p>
<p>“Yeah!” she confirmed. “Do you know him?”</p>
<p>“And his full name… is he Souji Narukami?”</p>
<p>She shook her head. “His family name is Seta,” she corrected.</p>
<p><em>Souji Seta</em>. For whatever reason, things were beginning to seem as though he had completely replaced Yu’s own existence in what was looking like a completely different reality than what he knew it to be. He’d spent an uneventful year in Inaba, and then returned back to the city once it was over. Life went on.</p>
<p>Just what the hell was going on here?</p>
<p>“Hey Mister, you don’t look so good,” Nanako spoke up. “Do you want to come in and sit down for a moment? I can get the first aid kit and some medicine if you need –“</p>
<p>“I’m fine,” he brushed her aside. “I’m sorry, Nanako. I need to get going.”</p>
<p>“Wait! How do you know my name? Do I know you?”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, Nanako,” he mumbled, refusing to look her in the eye, now. “I don’t know the answers myself.”</p>
<p>With that, he ran away from the home he’d known for a year, completely directionless, ignoring the cries of the girl both stranger and sister to him.</p>
<p>-o-o-o-</p>
<p>It took a long while before he got his emotions under control. It was already well into the evening before he could finally think rationally, and get his priorities straight for the immediate future.</p>
<p>First off, he <em>really</em> needed a roof over his head. Very thankfully, with all the part-time work he’d managed to accomplish in the time between defeating Ameno-Sagiri in December and the end of March, he should have enough to tide him over for some time.</p>
<p>That <em>‘some’</em> was relative, of course. He doubted it could last for longer than a few weeks. High school students really didn’t earn much.</p>
<p>It was with that thought in mind, that he now found himself standing in front of the Amagi inn, hoping that he had enough to cover himself for a few days while he figured out what to do about the predicament he found himself in.</p>
<p>The moment he stepped inside, he found himself once more rooted to the spot.</p>
<p>Yukiko manned the counter at the front, somehow looking even <em>more</em> elegant and refined than he remembered her being. Numbly, he forced his feet to move forward, ignoring the pang in his chest as she greeted him with a courteous smile devoid of any familiarity at him at all.</p>
<p>“Welcome to the Amagi inn,” she said, bowing slightly. “How may I help you?”</p>
<p>A few seconds passed, the moment stretching uncomfortably long, before he finally managed to speak from a strangely dried throat.</p>
<p>“Could I rent a room for a few days, please?”</p>
<p>“May I ask if you have a reservation with us?”</p>
<p>“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Would that be alright?”</p>
<p>“No problem. Just a moment, please,” she said, smiling, retrieving a small information leaflet. “These are the types of rooms we have currently available.”</p>
<p>He just barely refrained himself from wincing at the price of the cheapest room. He knew that five thousand yen a night was relatively cheap, all things considered, but that was still a fortune to his current high school budget.</p>
<p>Still, he didn’t have much of a choice. He needed information, find out just what had happened, and then return back to his own reality.</p>
<p>He ignored the part of his mind that traitorously whispered that this <em>was </em>reality.</p>
<p>“This one, please,” he said, pointing. “Could I stay for three nights?”</p>
<p>“Certainly,” she said, bowing once more. “I’ll just need proof of your identity, if you don’t mind.”</p>
<p>Her brow rose as she accepted the offered cash and identity card, before a small frown creased her face.</p>
<p>“You’re a high schooler?”</p>
<p>Damn. Did they have laws against that?</p>
<p>“Yeah…”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, but you need to be at least eighteen to rent a room, unless you have a parent or guardian with you,” she said apologetically, bowing once more. “I’m afraid I can’t let you stay here.”</p>
<p>“I understand,” he muttered, placing the cash back in his wallet. “I’m sorry to have bothered you.”</p>
<p>What options did he have left? By all accounts, he shouldn’t even <em>exist </em>in whatever this reality was. Even his own Narukami family was replaced by the Setas.</p>
<p>Worse of all, Yukiko didn’t even <em>recognise </em>him, and he doubted any of his other friends would be able to.</p>
<p>He was well and truly alone, without any form of support from them, and he felt completely helpless without them.</p>
<p>“Are you alright?” Yukiko asked, concerned, gently laying a hand on his shoulder. “Where are your parents?”</p>
<p>“Gone,” he said simply and truthfully.</p>
<p>“What about your guardian?” she asked with sympathy.</p>
<p>“I don’t have any.”</p>
<p>“You don’t? But how – where have you been staying?”</p>
<p>He shut his eyes tightly. He didn’t want Yukiko to see the tears that were threatening to form there, now that the reality of his present situation was starting to set in. Stranger though this older Yukiko may be, she was still <em>Yukiko.</em></p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I won’t trouble you any longer.”</p>
<p>He was about to turn away and head back out into the dark streets and figure out where to try next, when he felt Yukiko tugging at his shoulder with surprising firmness.</p>
<p>“You don’t have anywhere to go, do you?” she spoke gently.</p>
<p>“…none.”</p>
<p>“You’re not… running away from home, are you?”</p>
<p>“No,” he said firmly. “I just… I woke up in the middle of the day in the Samegawa Floodplain, and I have no idea how I got there.” He let the words hang in the air more a moment, then slouched over, defeated. “I know it sounds ridiculous.”</p>
<p>She stared at him searchingly for a few more moments, before nodding. “You can stay here for a night,” she finally said. “I’ll have a room ready for you shortly.”</p>
<p>Wordlessly, he took out five thousand yen, offering it to her, but she shook her head flatly.</p>
<p>“Stay here for the night.” She pushed his hand back toward himself, closing his fingers around the paper notes. “You don’t have anywhere else to go, right?”</p>
<p>“I…” Yu found himself speechless. This may not be <em>his</em> Yukiko, but she was every bit as kind and empathetic to others as the one that he knew. “Thank you.”</p>
<p>“Sit here for a while. I’ll get the room ready, okay?”</p>
<p>He nodded mutely. She watched him for only a second longer, before walking deeper into the corridor, calling out a few names of the inn’s staff as she did so.</p>
<p>He sighed tiredly, slouching over. Just what had happened between his returning to face Izanami and waking up lying in the middle of nowhere?</p>
<p>The television was actively playing some clip from the evening news, now. In another life that so far seemed to be known only to him, he knew that the very same television was where Adachi had murdered Mayumi Yamano by throwing her into it.</p>
<p>The <em>television.</em></p>
<p>He felt a slight surge of hope and anticipation. Hurriedly, he stood up, stepping over to it, and slowly moved to place his hand against it.</p>
<p>All he felt was the cool glass.</p>
<p>“Persona,” he whispered, willing even a single tarot card of any Arcana to come forth. None materialised.</p>
<p>His hopes plummeted, and he returned to his seat once more. He <em>knew</em> that it wouldn’t have worked, since nothing suggested that the Midnight Channel was present in this bastardised version of a future Inaba, but still…</p>
<p>“…faces mounting pressure from the public, amid growing frustration over the lack of explanations for the mental breakdowns that have led to accidents claiming many lives in Tokyo. Whether he will resign from his position as his predecessor had done just a few months ago still remains to be seen.”</p>
<p>That again. These ‘mental breakdowns’ he’d seen in the newspaper over at Doujima’s place earlier.</p>
<p>“In other news, the disgraced former Olympic gold medallist Suguru Kamoshida has officially been sentenced to imprisonment over charges of sexual harassment and systematic abuse of his students. As before, the principal of Shujin Academy in Tokyo has refused to comment on the matter.”</p>
<p>A teacher, abusing his students? In that regard, this ‘Kamoshida’ was far worse than even King Moron.</p>
<p>Come to think of it, wouldn’t Morooka still be alive here? Was he still tormenting students even now?</p>
<p>“…discussion in school around the existence of the elusive Phantom Thieves. For viewers tuning into the story for the first time, a calling card had been left in the school notice board of Shujin Academy by a group calling themselves the Phantom Thieves, declaring that they will enforce a ‘change of heart’ in Suguru Kamoshida. While the vast majority of students claim it to be a prank, some students we interviewed believe that these Phantom Thieves are responsible for Kamoshida’s sudden decision to come clean and admit his crimes on stage during the school’s morning assembly.”</p>
<p>…a ‘<em>change of heart’?</em></p>
<p>“<em>Kamoshida definitely wouldn’t have owned up to it,”</em> a distorted voice came from the television, the student’s face completely censored. “<em>People knew that shady stuff was going on with the volleyball team, but no one would dare go against Kamoshida, right? I mean, almost everyone in the team ended up with bruises every day! There’s no way that Kamoshida would go from the &lt;bleep&gt; that he did to prostrating on stage and admitting everything he’d done</em>!”</p>
<p>That did sound unusual. Yu could honestly say he’d never heard of anything like that before. The closest he could think of would be back when Teddie had mustered up the courage to defend them against Rise’s Shadow, and then fought his <em>own </em>Shadow, gaining an ego of his own and practically becoming a human.</p>
<p>Hell, a few weeks after that, he’d somehow grown a human body inside that suit of his. Those were some good memories.</p>
<p>Teddie… was he back in his original reality? What had even <em>happened</em> back there? Those days seemed like so long ago… he could barely even remember a time when Teddie didn’t have a Persona of his own…</p>
<p>Wait.</p>
<p>A <em>Persona?</em></p>
<p>He jolted himself upright, staring at the screen with renewed focus, but the programme was now reporting on another story. Still…</p>
<p>A Persona was unlocked by facing and accepting one’s own Shadow, the darkest desires and emotions that one kept hidden away from the greater ego. If this student <em>was </em>right, and that this Kamoshida’s sudden change in behaviour was indeed caused by something other than himself…</p>
<p>Could he have faced his own Shadow, and the resultant guilt over what he had done forced him to bare his crimes for all to see?</p>
<p>It was a <em>very </em>rough and untested theory, but he didn’t have much else to go on, for now. He needed to look up this case a little more closely.</p>
<p>Tokyo had those unexplained psychotic breakdowns, and now this change of heart. Was he simply seeing things where there was no connection to be found, simply out of desperation for some answers of his own?</p>
<p>Still… Tokyo. Come to think of it, he’d been due to return to the capital on the very same day that he had faced Izanami.</p>
<p>Was this another coincidence? Was he –</p>
<p>“Yo!” Another familiar voice came over from the door, and he froze in his seat. “Hey, Yukiko! You there? And – what the – dude, is that you, Souji?!”</p>
<p>He looked over at the person who called out the name of the one replacing him in this bizarre version of the world. He’d recognise the voice anywhere.</p>
<p>Yosuke looked slightly different, a little more rugged in his features, but everything else remained virtually identical. Even that pair of headphones around his neck was still present.</p>
<p>“Oh, sorry,” he apologised to Yu. “From the side, you looked a little like Souji. My bad, dude.”</p>
<p>“Apologise properly, damn it!” Another person stepped into the inn, and like before, Yu knew who it was before she even fully entered.</p>
<p>“Honestly, how do you deal with your customers at Junes with that kind of attitude?” Yu blinked, as a Chie dressed in a <em>police officer’s uniform</em> entered, smiling apologetically at him. “Sorry about Yosuke. And – wow, you really <em>do</em> look a lot like Souji. He’s an old friend of ours.”</p>
<p>“Oh…”</p>
<p>“Haven’t seen him for a few years, though. Last time we saw him was when he moved back into Tokyo five years ago.”</p>
<p>He tried to maintain his composure, but it was starting to prove difficult. Listening to Nanako and Yukiko treat him as complete strangers was one thing, but now it was becoming painfully clear that <em>no one</em> knew Yu Narukami.</p>
<p>Would his life have been like Souji Seta’s, even if he somehow managed to return to his own reality? Would he be forgotten and discarded by his closest friends?</p>
<p>“Dude, Yosuke, you should seriously apologise,” Chie said, punching him on the shoulder.</p>
<p>“Ow! Sorry about that, man.” Yosuke grinned sheepishly. “Still, though, you seriously look kind of like Souji from the side. Are you related?”</p>
<p>“No,” he forced himself to reply.</p>
<p>“Really, Yosuke? You call that an apology?” Chie sighed, then looked over at Yu. “Sorry. This idiot didn’t mean it.”</p>
<p>“Oh, come on, Chie, you know you still love me,” Yosuke joked. Chie blushed, but didn’t deny it.</p>
<p>Wait.</p>
<p>
  <em>WHAT?</em>
</p>
<p>Yosuke and Chie were in a <em>relationship</em>?!</p>
<p>Hell, he couldn’t wait to go back to his own reality and tease them about it.</p>
<p>…if he could even make it back.</p>
<p>“Soooo…” Yosuke spoke, looking around, oblivious to Yu’s thoughts. “Did you see Yukiko around? She’s the owner of the Amagi inn, here.”</p>
<p>“She’s getting a room ready.”</p>
<p>“Ah.” Yosuke looked around idly, briefly watching the television, but then perked up quickly enough. “Speak of the devil! Yo, Yukiko!”</p>
<p>“Chie? Yosuke? What are you two doing here?”</p>
<p>“Yosuke ended work late at Junes, and I just finished my patrols with Doujima. We figured we should stop by for a bit before heading off to grab dinner. You free to come along?”</p>
<p>That sounded great. They could have dinner at Aiya’s, just the four of them, like how it had been when they barely knew a thing about the Midnight Channel or the murders.</p>
<p>“Hmm…” Yukiko hummed. “Just a moment. I need to sort out some things first, okay? Narukami, I’ll show you to your room now. If you’ll follow me?”</p>
<p>Reality came crashing down on him. Right. These weren’t his friends. They had no reason for him to tag along.</p>
<p>Mutely, he stood up, his sole possessions what he had in his pockets and the small backpack of supplies he had for chasing after Izanami, and trailed behind Yukiko to his room.</p>
<p>Tomorrow. In the morning, he would head to Tokyo, investigate these occurrences for himself, and make it back to his own reality and his friends and family… or die trying.</p>
<p>A life without them wasn’t worth living.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,<br/>
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.”<br/>
- Shakespeare, Sonnet 147</em>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <em>June 5<sup>th</sup>, 2016<br/>
Sunday</em>
</p><p>Yu sighed, all energy drained from his body by the time he finally made it back to his room and could at last rest his tired legs.</p><p>He knew that getting back to everyone in Inaba on his own would take some serious effort, but this was far beyond anything he’d had to deal with before. Even back when he’d faced Izanami, Ameno-Sagiri, or any of the other Shadows they had crossed paths with before, he at least had all his friends by his side to help lighten the load.</p><p>True to his word, he had left the Amagi inn on Thursday, heading immediately to the station to take the train down to Tokyo. The ride itself had been entirely uneventful, beyond the fact that virtually everyone he saw in the train carriage were fiddling around with some kind of advanced high-tech phones in their hands, altogether unlike his more mundane flip phone.</p><p>Seriously, he doubted even <em>Naoto’s</em> impressive one she used for her detective work could do half what the ones of this altered future did.</p><p>After the whole fiasco with Yukiko and the trouble he now faced having to skirt with the law in a world where he essentially shouldn’t exist, attempting to find a place to live had been slightly problematic. In the end, he had needed to spend a night in a shady motel in the middle of nowhere, before finally being able to procure longer-term accommodation age in a dingy one-room apartment building in the less savoury parts of the city, from someone who thankfully (purposely or otherwise) was willing to overlook his age and questionable legal status.</p><p>Of course, that now left him with yet another major problem on top of the pile of issues he already had.</p><p>“I’m seriously broke…”</p><p>For the tenth time that day, he fished out his wallet, counting and tallying all the money he had on hand. As things currently were, he only had enough to cover the rent for a single month. Even in the most optimistic scenario, he wasn’t certain if that would be sufficient time for him to figure out a way back home in this entirely foreign environment.</p><p>His eyes fell upon the calendar on the sole table in his room, looking over the rough draft of a schedule he had made for the coming month. Even back during the summer where he’d frantically worked several part-time jobs as a day care assistant, a hospital janitor and his tutoring gig, he doubted his time had been as packed as it currently was.</p><p>Worse still was the fact that he had ultimately decided that <em>yes</em>, he needed to attend school. Beyond the fact that it seemed a reasonable decision to provide a cover just in case he needed one in his investigation, a more pessimistic (and annoyingly, rational) part of his mind now told him that perhaps there was no chance that he could return back to his friends. Even if he could return, there was no telling that time didn’t pass where he had come from. In that case, going back to school was of paramount importance, if he wanted any hope of being on par with his peers.</p><p>The trouble was finding a school with vacancies at all. Beyond the fact that his legal status was questionable, given his lack of parents or a guardian in this new world, he was coming into the city after a year spent in a high school in some rural town on the outskirts. That, compounded with it already being two months into the school year, meant that his options were limited.</p><p>He had tried Shujin Academy first, given the happenings going on there, but he’d been flatly denied when he finally got through the line after literal hours of waiting. He couldn’t blame them, he supposed, since all that media attention focused on the Kamoshida incident was clearly taking its toll on the staff.</p><p>The next few schools he attempted to contact were met with similar refusals. It was only with the eleventh school down the list he tried, very coincidentally also named Yasogami High, that he was finally offered a chance to have a meeting with the principal, and if the outcome was satisfactory, to be enrolled as a new student.</p><p>This month would be spent settling in here, while keeping his eyes and ear open for tangible leads that he could pursue. He had applied for part time jobs in convenience stores, diners, and virtually every opportunity he had available from the leaflets over in Shibuya station, and had already been confirmed for shifts in several of those places.</p><p>It made his schedule much tighter than it had been before, but it beat idling away at home or in school. Even if he desperately wanted to figure out how he could return home to his friends, there just wasn’t anything else that he <em>could</em> do. This way, he would at least manage to procure a decent amount of income for now to support his rent for the time being, and would hopefully provide him with the means to spend his time a bit more freely once he finally found clues to follow.</p><p>He looked around his room once more, and just as it had been for the past day, there was nothing much he could do. A futon set, a second-hand desk and chair, and a small TV that he’d picked up from where it had been discarded on the street were the only possessions he had. He had no idea <em>why</em> someone would throw away a perfectly working television, even if it wasn’t anything like the wide, flat-screen systems he had seen in Junes.</p><p>He wasn’t about to complain, though. The CRT television was entirely functional. Once again, he tried sticking his hand into the screen, and as before he felt like a complete idiot.</p><p>He sighed, and looked at his watch. It was already the early afternoon. In just another two hours, he’d start his job at the Shibuya Triple Seven, before heading to the beef bowl diner for a second shift, and then a third convenience store over in Shinjuku. Even that schedule was one of the less-packed days of the month, considering that if all went all tomorrow he would need to attend school as well.</p><p>That was fine, though. If this course of action would bring him back to his friends in Inaba, he’d gladly grit his teeth and trudge through hell itself.</p><p>He turned on the television, idly flipping through the channels. Might as well see if he could find anything of interest before setting out for his new job.</p><p>He frowned, as for the third channel in a row, their coverage was focused on the same event.</p><p>There was a bearded old man openly shedding tears behind an array of microphones at what looked like a press conference. Yu quickly turned the volume up.</p><p><em>“…tainted this country’s art world… and… even the ‘Sayuri’…”</em> the man sobbed. “<em>How could I… p-possibly apologise to – to everyone for what I’ve d- done –“</em></p><p>The clip cut off, and was promptly replaced with the news anchor’s voice. “<em>…</em>and that was from the urgent apology conference by Madarame that took place just a moment ago. After reporting to the association, Madarame had agreed to the police’s request to turn himself in.”</p><p>
  <em>An urgent apology conference? </em>
</p><p>“On top of charges of abuse to his pupils, Madarame is under suspicion of claiming their works as his own. This large-scale criminal act has caused a great shock to the art world. After the conference, Madarame was taken to a police hospital for interrogation due to his age. However, initial psych evaluations state that he is mentally sound and likely responsible for his actions.”</p><p>
  <em>If that’s true, then…</em>
</p><p>“Also, a group calling themselves the Phantom Thieves posted a dubious note at Madarame’s exhibit. The police will investigate their relation to this case, but for now, did not identify them as suspects.”</p><p>The Phantom Thieves again. Once could have been happenstance, but now his gut feeling screamed at him that this was no coincidence. If his conjecture based purely on guesswork and his own experiences was true, that they had a means of somehow forcing an interaction between a Shadow and the ego, then…</p><p>He couldn’t just ignore what was going on. He needed more information on these Phantom Thieves.</p><p>Luckily for him, his many jobs would give him an excellent opportunity to eavesdrop on people. If there was even the slightest bit of information he could pick up about this group, he might just have <em>something</em> he could act on.</p><p>For the first time since waking up on the Samegawa Floodplains, he felt just the dullest flicker of hope in him.</p><p>-o-o-o-</p><p>
  <em>June 6<sup>th</sup>, 2016<br/>
Monday</em>
</p><p>Working three jobs the day before might have been necessary, but that didn’t mean that it was a good idea.</p><p>Yu rubbed his eyes tiredly yet again at he waited outside the principal’s office in the uniform he had managed to buy at the last minute with the better half of what he had earned the day before. The school day hadn’t even started yet – he wasn’t even certain if he <em>would</em> be allowed to attend – but already he was feeling as tired as the many times he’d exited the television at Junes after a long day fighting Shadows.</p><p>“Yu Narukami?” A voice called out from behind him, and he forced himself to focus. The man was middle-aged, with stern features of a disciplinarian, and even if the badge on his suit hadn’t said as such Yu could have identified him as the principal of the school. <em>Tashiro Isamu </em>was his name, if Yu’s memory served him correctly.</p><p>Yu nodded. “Yes.”</p><p>“You’re here early. Excellent.” The principal must have been satisfied, because he gestured for Yu to follow into his office. “Have a seat.”</p><p>Yu obliged. “Thank you for meeting with me, sir.”</p><p>He nodded. “This is hardly the first time a student has requested for a transfer into Yasogami High in the middle of the school term, but your circumstances are a little more unusual than others,” he began saying. “I’d like to take the time to confirm a few details before deciding on how we should proceed with your case.”</p><p>“That’s fine.”</p><p>“Am I correct in saying that your education has been disrupted since the school year began in April?”</p><p><em>Disruption is putting it mildly, </em>he thought. “That’s right.”</p><p>“Hmm,” he hummed, jotting down some notes on a sheet of paper before looking at Yu sternly in the eye once more. “And you previously attended – very coincidentally – Yasogami High School in the town of Inaba?”</p><p>Yu nodded.</p><p>“I’ve already done the background check, and you’ve come up clean, but I need to confirm it again, regardless. Do you have any past criminal record or dealings with the police?”</p><p>Hmm. That was good to know. It seemed that for whatever reason, whatever Izanami had done had made him exist in this world as an actual citizen of Japan. It at least now gave more light on his present legal status. Already, he was learning something new.</p><p>“None.”</p><p>“I see. And you are presently without any parent or guardian living with you?”</p><p>He nodded, although he could just barely refrain from wincing at the searching look the principal was giving him. “My circumstances are a little… difficult, at the moment.”</p><p>The principal’s eyes softened slightly, but that was a relative term. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Yours wouldn’t be the first case of someone falling through the system I’ve had to deal with. Certain arrangements will need to be put in place regarding attendance and payment of school fees, but so far there are no red flags to your enrolment.”</p><p>Yu nodded. That was good.</p><p>“Unfortunately, given your lack of transcripts and the disruption to your education, along with our ability to accommodate your transfer, I cannot allow you to join the present third year classes. The best that I can offer is for you to join the current second years.”</p><p>The principal looked at him quizzically, an unasked question in his gaze. He thought about it for a moment, but made his mind soon enough. If all went well, this wouldn’t really matter once he got back to his world, anyway.</p><p>“That’s fine.”</p><p>“If so, then signing this form will confirm your enrolment in the school starting today.”</p><p>He briefly scanned the form that the principal slid over to him, but didn’t find any discrepancies. With a single quick flourish of his pen, he was now a student of Yasogami High School.</p><p>
  <em>Well, the one that isn’t in Inaba, at least.</em>
</p><p>“Your new class will be class 2-2. Sato-sensei will be your homeroom teacher.” He pressed an intercom button on the phone on his desk, waited a few moments, and then spoke into it. “Satou-san, Narukami is ready to join your class, now.” He set the phone down, and glanced over at Yu. “Satou-sensei will be here shortly.”</p><p>Yu settled into his chair, appreciating that he had at least a few moments to rest before the day started proper. Once school ended, he’d have another shift at some flower shop in the mall in Shibuya, and then convenience store, before he could call it a day. Once he earned a little bit more money, he really needed to invest in some coffee.</p><p>After what felt like far too short a time, a series of knocks came at the door, before he heard someone opening it. “Principal Isamu,” the voice greeted. “And you must be Yu Narukami. I’m Yasuda Satou, your new homeroom teacher.”</p><p>Yu bowed curtly. “Good morning.”</p><p>“I’ll take him to the faculty office now, Principal Isamu,” he said. “Follow me. I’ll bring you up to speed.”</p><p>Yasuda Satou was a fairly young teacher, but he seemed far more competent than King Moron had been. Then again, given that Morooka’s first words after introducing him to the class had been accusing Yu of ogling some girl in the class, that wasn’t much of a high bar to overcome.</p><p>“Principal Isamu told me some of the details,” he said, as they strolled through the corridor that was now quickly becoming filled with students moving about, looking curiously at the pair. “I heard that you’ve already sat through your second year of high school, but don’t take this as an opportunity to slack off in class, okay?”</p><p>From the tone of his voice, it seemed less of a warning and more of a joke. “Sure.”</p><p>Satou continued speaking. “I heard a little about your… home situation, for lack of better words. If you have any problems, don’t hesitate to talk to me or any of the other teachers, okay?”</p><p>“Alright.”</p><p>“You don’t talk much, do you?” he asked, sounding amused, then shook his head. “Come on in,” he said, walking past the door to the faculty’s office. “I’ve got your student information here, and then we’ll introduce you to the class once everyone’s ready.”</p><p>Satou sat down at his cubicle, ruffling through a pile of rough notes and half-marked work before retrieving a clear plastic binder. “This is for you,” he said. “Your schedule and other details are inside. If you have any questions at any time, feel free to ask me, okay?”</p><p>“Thanks.”</p><p>He was expecting for them to leave the office to make their way to class, but Satou hesitated for a moment. Yu paused, looking at him questioningly.</p><p>“I’ve got a bit of a favour to ask of you,” he began saying after a moment’s pause. “The rest of the class already know this, but we’ve had another transfer student from Shujin just a week ago.”</p><p>That caught his interest. “Shujin?”</p><p>“The details aren’t pleasant,” he said, grimacing, with more than a little hint of anger that didn’t seem directed at Yu. Even with what little he knew of the scandal, it didn’t take a genius to put the facts together as to <em>why</em> Satou was furious. “Her name’s Shiho Suzui. She’s still recuperating from her hospital stay, but –“</p><p>“<em>Hospital?”</em> He remembered how Nanako and Doujima had been back when they had been warded in the hospital. For Kamoshida’s to have somehow caused a student to be hospitalised… he suspected that the media’s portrayal of the account was far downplaying the seriousness of his actions, and he felt a genuine anger at that.</p><p>“I can’t tell you the details,” he said firmly. “Regardless, she’s been taking everything in stride remarkably well. Give her space if she needs it, but look out for her, okay?”</p><p>“I will,” he promised.</p><p>“Good lad,” he said. “Thanks, Narukami. Come on, let’s bring you to class now.”</p><p>Wordlessly, they made their way over to classroom 2-2. He gestured for Yu to wait outside for a moment, before he stepped into address the class.</p><p>“Alright everyone, settle down,” he heard Satou say. It took a few more moments before the class finally quieted. “We’ve got another transfer student with us today. Come on over; introduce yourself to the class.”</p><p>He stepped forward quickly, taking a quick glance. Here in the city, the class size was larger than what it had been back in Inaba, much like what he was used to before his transfer a year ago. “I’m Yu Narukami,” he said, bowing slightly.</p><p>He paused, then looked over at Satou, wondering why he hadn’t yet given him permission to take a seat. Satou groaned.</p><p>“Come on, share a little bit more about yourself,” he said.</p><p>“I’m transferring over from Inaba?” Yu half-said, half-asked. Satou gestured for him to continue. What else did he want him to say? “I’m repeating second year again?”</p><p><em>That</em> caused some hushed whispers around the class, but Yu didn’t really understand why. “I’ll be in your care,” he finished, bowing once more, then looked at Satou for approval.</p><p>“Uhh… right.” Satou took a look around the class for a suitable suit. “Why don’t you sit over there in the back, next to Suzui?”</p><p>He glanced over at the indicated seat, then automatically took a quick look at the girl he now knew to be Shiho Suzui. Despite the pair of crutches leaning against her table and the obviously strained look on her face, she didn’t seem too out of place for someone who had gone through what he could only imagine was an ordeal back in Shujin, if half the rumours on the news about Kamoshida were true. Yu nodded, and then quickly took his seat.</p><p>“Hi,” he greeted her quietly. She didn’t respond, even flinching slightly. Yu frowned, but didn’t comment any further, looking back toward the front to pay attention to Satou.</p><p>“Alright. Now that Narukami’s here, let’s begin the class with a review of what we’ve done last week, and then go on to explore more trigonometry.”</p><p>Ah, trig. He at least remembered a fair bit of it, since he’d needed to help Yosuke and Chie out with exams at times. At least he would have some time to unwind before going into unfamiliar content.</p><p>“Turn to page 67, we’ll begin by going through the problem set. Oh, right, Narukami, you don’t have your texts yet. Suzui, would you mind sharing with him for today?”</p><p>Come to think of it, he’d need some textbooks, too. He hoped that the library would have some extra copies, or if the teachers had some second-hand ones. His finances were tight enough as things were currently.</p><p>“Yes, sensei,” she said softly, bringing their tables slightly closer and letting him copy down the problem exercises. He smiled gratefully, but again she didn’t otherwise respond.</p><p>He frowned to himself once he got the questions written down, and followed Satou’s explanations of the solution. He didn’t quite know what exactly Shiho was going through, but if he knew anything from his experiences in Inaba, it was that his gut feeling was telling him that her actions didn’t quite fully reflect the turmoil she was probably feeling. In that regard, she seemed just like Rise and Kanji, and to lesser extents Naoto, Yosuke, Yukiko, Chie and Teddie.</p><p>Hopefully he was just looking too deeply into things.</p><p>-o-o-o-</p><p>
  <em>June 11<sup>th</sup>, 2016<br/>
Saturday</em>
</p><p>He was almost done. After countless sleepless hours, he was <em>finally</em> close to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.</p><p>He was almost through with his first week of school in Tokyo!</p><p>Just two more hours of class, and then they would be dismissed. He would take the train down to Shibuya, work at the flower shop, head home, and finally have some time to rest after working for close to every waking moment that he wasn’t in school since he arrived in Tokyo.</p><p>In another week, he would have earned enough to cover another month of rent, which he hoped would be a sufficient financial safety net for him to splurge on some extravagant luxuries. First on his list would be a second-hand kettle, so he could at last be able to <em>boil water and make some coffee.</em></p><p>
  <em>Mmm… coffee sounds good…</em>
</p><p>“Narukami!”</p><p>“Yes, sensei!” he replied automatically, standing up abruptly.</p><p>“Dozing off on your first week here?” Mayumi-sensei, the English literature teacher, tutted in disapproval. “Very well. Since you seem to know so much about literature already, why don’t you answer the next question?”</p><p>“Yes, sensei.”</p><p>“‘<em>To be or not to be’. </em>What is the meaning behind this famous soliloquy of Shakespeare’s?”</p><p>There were some hushed mutterings around the class, but again Yu didn’t pay much attention to them. <em>Let’s see… </em>if he remembered correctly from lessons back in Inaba, the exam questions that had been set before, and from practice that Yumi had made everyone do back in drama club…</p><p>“Hamlet contemplates the human condition in Act 3, Scene 1,” he said. The murmurs continued, but considering that Mayumi-sensei was still staring at him he couldn’t spare the time to think about that right now.</p><p>“<em>Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them? To die: to sleep,” </em>he quoted verbatim, after the crazed practice Yumi had made him go through in his first few weeks at the school. “At the time, Hamlet sees life as a lack of power, where the living are at the mercy of ‘outrageous fortune’ and chance. He sees the act of taking one’s life as the only action one can take against this unfairness. Here, Hamlet views death as empowering, as an active means of taking up arms rather than simply passively living through pointless suffering.”</p><p>He never did like Hamlet that much. His inaction and contemplation for the vast majority of the play seemed a little too similar to what Ameno-Sagiri, and later Izanami, claimed about humanity. He refused to believe that humans would rather live through a lie than to actively take charge of their own lives.</p><p>“<em>To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub,” </em>he continued. “<em>For in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause: there’s the respect that makes calamity of so long life.” </em>He paused momentarily. “Here, he describes his fears of not knowing what comes with death, and in doing so, why he thinks that people choose to continue enduring life’s turmoil, due to the possibility that death and the unknown could be worse.”</p><p>Yes, he didn’t like this soliloquy that much, despite all the deep meaning that it conveyed. It was nihilistic, focusing far too much on action and inaction, overlooking the things that made life <em>worth</em> living.</p><p>Things like his friends. Things like Nanako, and uncle Doujima.</p><p>“Nearer the end, he says that ‘<em>thus conscience does make cowards of us all,’”</em> Yu said, both addressing his teacher and following the internal train of thought he was now pursuing. “Convention of the time demands that he kills Claudius for murdering his father, but his desire for revenge is conflicted by his own view that murder is a sin.”</p><p>He could understand that. Part of him had so desperately wanted to throw Namatame into the television back when none of them could think straight, after Nanako’s heart had stopped beating before her miraculous recovery. It had almost led him to falsely murdering an innocent man, and becoming no better than Adachi.</p><p>Conscience may make a coward of him, but was that really so bad?</p><p>“In all, it portrays his struggles between life and death; between two courses of actions with vastly different outcomes, but both equally valid. It builds upon the theme of conflict in the play, before its eventual culmination in the fourth and fifth acts.”</p><p>“An interesting perspective,” Mayumi-sensei commented, an eyebrow raised, but her tone didn’t convey anything about what she thought of his answer. “Do you have anything further to add?”</p><p>Yu thought for a moment. “I don’t think his opinion in that soliloquy is entirely accurate,” he finally said after a few moments. “Knowing how the play ends, we can see in hindsight where his thinking leads. In Act 4, Scene 4, with the soliloquy that begins ‘<em>How all occasions do inform me</em>’, his conflict finally ends with him taking concrete action, and choosing to actively take revenge. ‘<em>O, from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!</em>’ he says, and this ultimately leads not just to the death of Hamlet, Claudius, Laertes, and Gertrude, but also the conquering of Denmark by Fortinbras of Norway.”</p><p>…would he have been like <em>Hamlet</em>, had he thrown Namatame into the television? Would the fog have swallowed Inaba, since Adachi and Ameno-Sagiri wouldn’t have been dealt with, and in doing so would he have doomed them all like Hamlet had what remained of his family and Denmark?</p><p>Come to think of it, was there even any guarantee that the fog <em>hadn’t </em>swallowed Inaba back where he came from, before he was transported in time and space for whatever unknown reason?</p><p>No, he couldn’t think like that. With the help of his friends, their collective conscience had saved them all. He <em>had </em>to believe that.</p><p>Suddenly, now that that line of thought had been pursued to completion, he was aware of just how silent the class was.</p><p>“…dude, Narukami,” someone finally spoke up. “Spoilers.”</p><p>That broke the tension, as someone snorted, before gradually people began to chatter among themselves.</p><p>“You seem to have some appreciation for the themes of Hamlet,” Mayumi-sensei said, sounding almost impressed. “Keep it up, but that’s no excuse to daydream in class, got it?”</p><p>“Yes, sensei.”</p><p>“Fine, then.” She paused for a moment, then sighed, pinching at her nose. “For your information, we are covering <em>Macbeth </em>this term. Please do try to follow the lesson, Narukami?”</p><p>…well, that finally shed some light why his classmates had reacted the way they did.</p><p>He sat down quickly, now not daring to have his thoughts drift around after what he’d just gone through. Sensei was <em>scary</em>.</p><p>Unbeknownst to him, Shiho Suzui had been paying rapt attention to his answer, a deep furrow creasing her brow as recent wounds in her mind opened up once more.</p><p>-o-o-o-</p><p>
  <em>June 16<sup>th</sup>, 2016<br/>
Thursday</em>
</p><p>The school week was more than halfway through, now.</p><p>All things considered, his present schedule didn’t feel as hectic as it had been a week ago. Whether it was because he was finally used to it, or because he had gone fully insane, as Yosuke would claim, he had no idea. Regardless, he finally had enough to cover rent for another month, with all the work that he had managed to do.</p><p>Despite that, he had just yesterday gotten a reply agreeing to a trial session for a tutoring job he had tried signing up for, to tutor some first-year high school student. He didn’t know whether he was perhaps being a little too ambitious, considering his prior experience was with a middle-school student (even if Shu <em>was</em> a prodigy), but he at least had to try. It paid better than working shifts in the convenience store, and let him revisit some old content at the same time.</p><p>Lunch break was the only time he had everyday to truly unwind and relax. It was why he was now perched up on the roof of the school building, waiting for the bowl of value discounted instant noodles he had bought the day before to cook. The canteen was far too noisy for him to have his food in peace.</p><p>Yu closed his eyes, sighing deeply. Just a few weeks ago, he would have been sitting on the roof with his friends, laughing and chatting about everything they could think of. Life really could change in the blink of an eye.</p><p>He’d been on the lookout for any further news on any of the oddities surrounding the happenings in Tokyo, but thus far hadn’t come across anything new. For whatever reason, the Phantom Thieves hadn’t yet made another move. That implied that forcing this change of heart was probably a technically difficult venture, but he was still completely in the dark about whether his theory of Shadows being involved was true.</p><p>He was about to start digging into his meal, when he heard the sound of the door opening to his left and some movement at the edge of his vision. He glanced over, and blinked in surprise as a pair of crutches moved first past the threshold, followed by the form of his new classmate.</p><p>“Suzui?” he asked, placing his noodles aside. “What are you doing here?” He glanced at her crutches. “How <em>did</em> you get up here, anyway?”</p><p>“Narukami?” She sounded equally surprised, but her words were punctuated with heavy breaths from exertion.</p><p>“Stay there, I’ll help you over,” he said, already rising to his feet. She stiffened slightly as he did so, but then relaxed marginally, reluctantly allowing him to help support her weight to sit over on one of the chairs.</p><p>There was an almost uncomfortable silence as she sat some distance away. He stared at her for a moment longer, wondering just why she had come to the roof, but then shrugged and began eating his noodles.</p><p>“You’ve been having lunch here?”</p><p>“It’s quiet here,” he said, gesturing slightly for emphasis. “What about you?”</p><p>“I’ve eaten.” She fidgeted uncomfortably, not looking at him in the eye.</p><p>Ah. He understood now. She needed the peace and quiet to think, or to reflect on something. He was accustomed to that feeling.</p><p>“Do you want me to leave?” he asked, already closing the lid on his bowl and getting ready to sling his bag.</p><p>“It’s alright,” she denied hurriedly. “You’ve already started eating.”</p><p>He looked at her for a moment longer, before slowly relaxing in place again. “…if you’re sure, then.”</p><p>Silence. Shiho was sitting there on her sit, looking over past the edge of the roof.</p><p>Yu glanced at her, then his bowl of noodles, and then back at her again. It was all he would have until he finished his shifts in the Triple Seven, but…</p><p>“You want some?” he offered.</p><p>She startled at that for a moment, looking back at him, then shook her head, smiling just ever-so-slightly. “It’s alright, Narukami,” she said. After a moment’s pause, she continued, sounding slightly concerned. “You’re only eating instant ramen for lunch?”</p><p>He shrugged. “It’s all I can afford at the moment.”</p><p>“You’re full with just that?”</p><p>“Yeah. Don’t worry about it,” he waved her concerns aside. “I make it up at dinner.”</p><p>Yes, after a week of exploring Tokyo while going about his part-time jobs, he had chanced upon a master strategy for saving money.</p><p>Every few days, he would now hit up a Big Bang Burger branch, take up the challenge, and have a ridiculously hearty meal for free. After conquering the scientific wonder that was the Aiya’s rainy day Meat Bowl challenge, he knew that even the Big Bang Burger could be subdued with sheer courage, diligence, knowledge and understanding.</p><p>Come to think of it, he needed to stay away from the branch at Shibuya soon. The staff there were starting to recognise him, even if he targeted them at different shifts.</p><p>“…you’re kind of weird, you know that, Narukami?” She shook her head, smiling a little, but then gasped. “Oh! Sorry! I didn’t mean it that way.”</p><p>“I get told that a lot.” <em>By Yosuke, no less.</em> “Don’t worry about it.”</p><p>“How are you settling into Yasogami High?” Shiho asked, warming up to him slightly. “Don’t let what people say about you get you down, okay?”</p><p>He blinked. “People talk about me?”</p><p>“…you don’t know?” Yu shook his head. “Well… it’s stupid, but some people are saying that you’re some delinquent that got held back a year after picking fights out in your town. Don’t pay any attention to them, okay?”</p><p>Oh. <em>Those </em>kind of rumours.</p><p>Ehh, come to think of that, they weren’t entirely inaccurate. He did fight Shadows back in Inaba.</p><p>“Of course.”</p><p>“That’s good,” she said. “It’ll die down soon enough. I transferred here a week before you did.”</p><p>“I heard. From Shujin, right?”</p><p>A dark look crossed her face, alongside a grimace of pain, and he regretted ever opening his stupid mouth. He was about to apologise, but she spoke first.</p><p>“Yeah,” she said softly. “Shujin.”</p><p>Again, an uncomfortable silence passed between them.</p><p>“Sorry about that, Suzui,” he said. “Really.”</p><p>“It’s alright,” she said, but Yu thought that her voice sounded slightly strained. “It’s not your fault.”</p><p>He continued eating at his noodles, but was quickly growing worried at the thoughtful and sorrowful expression on Shiho’s face as she continued staring past the edge of the roof. He had no idea what had happened at Shujin, but considering that she was hospitalised, had multiple fractures and was still using her crutches, together with how she flinched and reacted to people in class, he had some understanding of what was going on.</p><p>The media really hadn’t done full justice to what this Kamoshida had orchestrated in his school. If even Yu was furious at him, Chie would have been beyond enraged.</p><p>“Hey, Narukami?”</p><p>“Hmm?” He looked over at her, but Shiho was still staring out into the distance.</p><p>“I’ve been thinking about what you said in class.”</p><p>He blinked, thinking back to what she was talking about. Today was Thursday, so before lunch was Chemistry. What had happened in class again?</p><p>Ah, right.</p><p>“Oh, nucleophilic substitution? It’s pretty neat, right?” he commented. “You know, I hear that if we study it further in university, the explanation goes on to talk about HOMO and LUMO interactions.”</p><p>“What?” Now, she tore her gaze away from what she’d been pondering on, staring at him. “No, I’m not talking about Chemistry! What even is – no, never mind, I don’t want to know.”</p><p>Not Chemistry? Before that was…</p><p>“The mitochondrion is the powerhouse of the cell?”</p><p>“Not Biology either!” she scolded, but sounded just slightly more cheerful. “Last week. Hamlet.”</p><p>“Oh, that.” <em>Could really have made that a lot clearer. </em>“What about it?”</p><p>“<em>To be or not to be</em>,” she quoted. “Do you think he’s right? Is that all there is to life?”</p><p>
  <em>Oh.</em>
</p><p>“Not at all,” he said. Her attention was focused on him, now, rather than whatever she’d been thinking about. “Sure, we all have to deal with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in life, but Hamlet doesn’t see the better things in life that make it worth living.”</p><p>“You think that what he was talking about – that suicide is wrong?” The words came out strained and choked, but her expression remained unchanged.</p><p>This was dangerous territory here. He had no idea just what was going through Shiho’s mind, but like it had been with many of his friends and acquaintances back in Inaba he knew that what he was about to say would have its impact on her.</p><p>“He’s a character in a tragedy,” he began saying. “His father was murdered, and his killer wed to his mother. He’s alone, without allies, suspicious of people at every corner.”</p><p>Again, he thought back to Adachi’s words. He had seen life as devoid of meaning, simply choosing to do what he did for the thrill of it. He saw no value in friendship, or bonds between people, or even morality.</p><p>“He was alone, without people to help him, and that led him down a path that gave the play the ending it did, I think,” Yu mused. “We aren’t quite so two-dimensional. We all have things we treasure: friends, family, whatever. They give meaning to our lives.”</p><p>“Things we treasure,” Shiho repeated softly, no longer looking at him. “But what about if life’s hardships are too hard? What if we break?”</p><p>That… didn’t sound good.</p><p>“Suzui,” he said. “I think that –“ He paused, then sighed, stepping slightly closer to her, taking care to make sure she wasn’t startled. “I’m no good at this, so I’ll be blunt, okay? Is this about Shujin?”</p><p>She flinched, a myriad of emotions passing across her face. Shock, anger, fear, and then dejection. “I –“ she said, hanging her head low. “Yes.”</p><p>“I don’t know what happened there, and I won’t ask,” he promised. “But I think it’s clear that whatever happened there is still weighing heavily on you.”</p><p>“It’s that obvious, huh?” she asked weakly.</p><p>“I can’t say that I know what you’re going through, but –“ Again, he paused. “Some friends of mine had to deal with facing some things they didn’t want to accept about themselves, before. I won’t lie – facing something like that is beyond tough, but you’ve got to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”</p><p>He thought about how Kanji, Rise and Naoto had struggled with their identities. What he was now thinking Shiho had to deal with wasn’t at all similar, but it was a close enough approximation. “It seems impossible now, but you can count on your friends to help you through it. Bottling things away won’t solve the problem. They all had to face themselves, and they emerged better for it.”</p><p>Well, they had to do it in the more literal meaning of the words, but the thought remained all the same.</p><p>“To face myself, huh?” she whispered, then exhaled deeply. “Thanks for the advice, Narukami.” She gave a weak smile.</p><p>“<em>Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once,” </em>he quoted. “Caesar says that in Shakespeare’s <em>Julius Caesar.</em> I think that even if facing your fears head on is hard, in the long run being able to proudly hold your head high for daring to do so is all the more rewarding.”</p><p>“Shakespeare, again?” She laughed, her mood slightly improved. “You enjoy literature, huh?”</p><p>“I was in the drama club for a time,” he said easily, relieved that whatever she’d been contemplating seemed to have passed, at least for the moment. “They loved their soliloquys.”</p><p>He felt a buzzing vibration in his pocket, and glanced apologetically at her before taking out his phone. Triple Seven was asking to confirm about his availability again. He fired off a quick reply, before placing it back in his pocket.</p><p>“You use a flip phone?” Shiho was openly gawking now. “I don’t think I’ve seen one of that in… maybe close to a decade, really.”</p><p>“You’ve got one of those smartphones?” She nodded, and he continued. “I was hoping to get one, but can’t really afford an upgrade right now. Rent is tight enough as it is.”</p><p>“You <em>pay</em> your own rent?”</p><p>Damn. He’d opened himself to the conversation more than he thought he would, but at least he was still clear of the more unbelievable side of his life.</p><p>“I live on my own,” he said simply.</p><p>“Oh…” She looked a little guilty. “Sorry…”</p><p>“Don’t worry about it.”</p><p>The tension remained there for a while, but she broke it quickly enough. “Well, at least with one of those you don’t have to deal with annoying apps, right?” she joked. “There’s this app that showed up a week ago that’s been reappearing on my phone no matter how many times I delete it. I’m starting to think there’s a virus in it.”</p><p>“…I don’t think I even know what an app is.”</p><p>He was, thankfully, spared from further questioning, as the bell finally rang to signify the end of lunch break. He stood up, throwing his now-finished bowl of noodles into the bin, and offered a hand to Shiho. “Here. I’ll help you back to class, okay?”</p><p>He hid a smile at the fact that she hadn’t flinched as she had done back in class when he approached her. It took a few seconds, but she finally took his hand, pulling herself up to her feet, and leaned her weight on his shoulder while holding her crutches with her other hand. Together, he slowly moved over to the stairwell.</p><p>“…hey, Narukami?”</p><p>“Hmm?”</p><p>“Thanks.”</p><p>He smiled, unseen by her, as they slowly returned to class. “Don’t worry about it.”</p><p>-o-o-o-</p><p>
  <em>21<sup>st</sup> June, 2016<br/>
Tuesday</em>
</p><p>Ren Amamiya put his textbooks away, untidily stuffing them into his bag. Morgana shifted slightly to make room, but made his annoyance known.</p><p>“Hey! Be gentler with my fur!”</p><p>“Sorry, kitty,” he said quietly, ruffling Morgana’s fur, and his protests intensified. He smiled faintly, before taking proper care to make sure that there was room for his friend in there.</p><p>Morgana huffed in indignation, but then spoke excitedly. “Anyway, what now?” he asked. “You’ve already found a way to enter Kaneshiro’s palace. Are you planning to gather everyone and head for the treasure?”</p><p>“Maybe,” he replied, taking a quick glance around to make sure that his other classmates weren’t listening in. “I’ll ask Ann, Ryuji and Makoto if they’re fine with meeting in school. Maybe then we can see if Yusuke’s free today.”</p><p>“Well, hurry up already!” Morgana urged. “You’ve got a deadline to meet! You know what’s going to happen if we don’t make it this time!”</p><p>“Yeah.” His mood darkened at that. He still didn’t know much about Makoto, but what Kaneshiro had in store for her was far worse than what he had planned for the rest of them. He took out his phone, firing off a quick series of messages.</p><p>
  <em>Ren: Meet?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ryuji: Sure, dude! We hitting up the Palace?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Yusuke: Regrettably, I am still currently engaged in my latest piece of artwork. I shall be indisposed for a few more hours at the very least.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ryuji: Dude, stop talking so weirdly!! </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ren: We can meet in the school rooftop to discuss our plans for now. Ann, Makoto, you two free?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ann: …you know we’re in the same classroom, right? Sheesh. Antisocial.</em>
</p><p>He glanced over at her, smiling sheepishly. She shook her head, then looked back at her own phone.</p><p>
  <em>Makoto: Give me five minutes. I need to wrap things up in the student council room.</em>
</p><p>“Seems like they’re all free,” he spoke for Morgana’s benefit, slinging his bag and making his way out of the classroom.</p><p>“Sweet!” he cheered. “Alright, we’ll need to review what we know from our surveillance of the Palace, and then make sure we’ve got all our equipment ready.”</p><p>“Quiet down a little,” he muttered, as he made his way past a corner. “People can hear you meowing.”</p><p>“I’m not a – oh, wait, I can they <em>can </em>hear me. Oops.”</p><p>He shook his head. Morgana really was one-of-a-kind. By the time he finally made it to the rooftop, Ryuji was already waiting there.</p><p>“Hey, man!” he greeted enthusiastically. “Palace?”</p><p>“Hello to you too, Ryuji,” Ren said, opening his bag to allow Morgana to come out. “Let’s wait for the others to come.”</p><p>“Yep, sure,” he said, lounging lazily on his chair. “Oh, yeah! Heard a certain little brainiac wowed his class today.”</p><p>Ren groaned, bringing his palm across his face in embarrassment. “How’d you even hear about that?”</p><p>“Ehh, word goes around. Some people are saying you’re a genius delinquent now. Good going, dude.”</p><p>“Shut it,” he said, playfully punching Ryuji in the shoulder. “It was all luck.”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m <em>sure </em>it was <em>alllll</em> luck.”</p><p>He settled for ignoring Ryuji, looking around the rooftop. It had been some time since they’d met up here, ever since Yusuke had joined their little group and then Makoto had discovered their meeting spot, but it still looked very much the same.</p><p>Barely a few seconds later, Ryuji broke the silence.</p><p>“Soooo…” he said. “Any other plans for the week?”</p><p>“Not really,” Ren said, shrugging. “Palace, Triple Seven, cleaning up Leblanc. That’s pretty much the plan for the week.”</p><p>“Oh yeah, you’re still working that part-time job, right?” Ryuji followed up, eager for conversation. “Anything interesting there?”</p><p>He grimaced slightly. “There’re fewer free slots right now,” he said. “Apparently some new high school part-timer has been going around taking up as many open shifts as he can in different branches.”</p><p>“Destabilising the economy, eh?” Ryuji joked. “Well, at least that means you’ve got more free time to hang out with us now!”</p><p>He quirked a smile. “I don’t know…”</p><p>“Come on, dude! We’ve got to go to the arcade! I’ve been asking you for ages!”</p><p>“Maybe.” It had been a while since they’d done anything fun, and truth be told Ren was looking forward to spending time with Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke and now Makoto.</p><p>“I’m holding you to that,” Ryuji warned. “Oh, you hear that? Think the girls’re here!”</p><p>Sure enough, Ann and Makoto were now making their way over. “Apologies for my lateness,” Makoto said. “I’ve had to deal with more requests to handle the situation with the mafia in Shibuya.”</p><p>“We really need to take this guy down quick, huh?” Ann commented, taking her seat and pushing Ryuji slightly to make room, ignoring his protests. “When should we do this?”</p><p>“We’ve got until the end of the first week of July,” Ren pointed out. “We should aim to get it done by early that week.”</p><p>“That gives us just short of two weeks to scout out the Palace, make our way to the Treasure, and send the calling card,” Morgana mused, taking centre-stage on the table in the middle. “We should start making our move this week, if possible.”</p><p>“I agree,” Makoto spoke. “I know I’m new here, and it’s not exactly my place to comment –“</p><p>“Ehh, just say what you want,” Ryuji interrupted, slouching nonchalantly. “You’ve got a Persona, so you’re one of us now.”</p><p>Not quite how he’d have put it, but Ren nodded encouragingly at her in affirmation.</p><p>“Kaneshiro’s the leader of an organised crime group,” she said. “We only managed to see the first section of his Palace the last time, but from what I understand about what Morgana has explained about Cognitive Palaces, Kaneshiro’s will likely be more difficult to infiltrate than Kamoshida’s or Madarame’s. He knows all about operational security in order to run his mafia, so we’ll have to be ready to deal with something more tricky than those whose hearts you’ve changed before.”</p><p>“Oh yeah, good point,” Ryuji said. “Man! Your title isn’t just for show, huh, miss Student Council president?”</p><p>“W- well –“</p><p>“Just ignore Ryuji, Makoto,” Ann said, glaring at him.</p><p>“Hey! I was complimenting her!”</p><p>“Phrase it more nicely!”</p><p>They continued bickering, and Makoto just looked confused at it all. He couldn’t blame her, seeing as it was technically her first meeting in a pre-infiltration discussion.</p><p>“Are they always like this?”</p><p>“You’ll get used to it,” he advised.</p><p>“Hey! My phone! Give it back!”</p><p>“Stop fiddling with it and talking to people at the same time! It’s rude!”</p><p>“Well, you’re –“</p><p>Suddenly, he felt a very familiar lurching sensation, as the entirety of the world around him shifted.</p><p>The next instant, he was wearing his Joker outfit, and he immediately grew alert. He glanced around wildly, taking in the details of his new environment, and saw that everyone else had likewise appeared in their Phantom Thief guise. “What just happened?”</p><p>“We’re in the Metaverse!” Morgana warned, now in his bipedal form, a scarf across his head. “But how –“</p><p>“Ann, what the hell did you do with my phone?!”</p><p>“It wasn’t me!” she replied in a panic, handing it back to Ryuji. “I didn’t even unlock it!”</p><p>“Everyone!” Makoto shouted, and they all stiffened, turning to look at her. “Focus!”</p><p>“Right,” Ren said, now that everyone had stopped shouting over each other. “First thing’s first – Mona, you’re certain that we’re in the Metaverse? Did the school turn into a Palace again?”</p><p>“It’s definitely the Metaverse, but…” he paused for a moment, turning his head this way and that, before straightening abruptly. “I sense a Treasure! It’s a Palace!”</p><p>“Holy…”</p><p>“Ryuji, calm down,” Ren urged. “Let’s think this through. Kamoshida saw the school as his castle. Do we know who else might see Shujin as a Palace? What form is it taking?”</p><p>“Right.” He glanced around, walking over to the edge of the rooftop that still remained as one. He looked over the edge, before gasping barely a moment later.</p><p>“Dude, what the frick!” Ryuji shouted.</p><p>Immediately, they darted over toward him. “What is it?”</p><p>He didn’t even need to reply. They all recognised what the Palace was, peering over the tall wall of the rooftop as they were.</p><p>Fences of barbed wire with arcing electricity bounded the entirety of the school. Tall sentry posts were stationed at every possible entrance and exit. Brilliant lights were flashing all around, slowly searching across the vast open area they could see from their vantage point.</p><p>For whatever reason, the Palace ruler saw Shujin as a <em>prison.</em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOW2s_23YPs found this on youtube while I was writing these chapters, and hooooo boy this is one talented artist! I tried using it for inspiration (particularly at the end of this chapter and for next chapter), not sure if it came across as such.</p>
<p>These next two chapters were a little short for my liking, but I figured there wasn't much else to drag on at this point, and might as well just get it over it. Hopefully it makes some modicum of sense.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”<br/>- Shakespeare, <em>The Merchant of Venice,</em> Act III, Scene I</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <em>Five minutes before</em>
</p>
<p><em>This is it</em>, she thought, supporting her weight on her crutches as she stood at the bend along the pavement. <em>Just past this stretch, and I’ll have to see Shujin again.</em></p>
<p>For several moments, she couldn’t move. Everything that had happened there, every single painful and embarrassing experience at the hands of Kamoshida, every bit of disgust, helplessness, hatred and despair that she felt came rushing to her at once.</p>
<p>She’d been beaten. She’d been harassed. She’d been r –</p>
<p>She shut her eyes tightly. <em>Calm, </em>she told herself. <em>Stay calm. You can do this.</em></p>
<p>For all that she tried to convince herself otherwise… Yu Narukami was right. She had thought that she had recovered from her experiences at Shujin during her time at the hospital, but she had only been deluding herself. Ann had visited her, and tried consoling her as best she could, but even the fact that Kamoshida was now paying for his crimes hadn’t wiped the slate clean.</p>
<p>The plan had originally been to move away from Tokyo, to another school far away from Shujin, but she had changed her mind just before she had finally been discharged from the hospital. Ann was her best friend, and she wasn’t ready to handle a whole new life while still dealing with the fallout of Shujin.</p>
<p>“Shiho Suzui,” she said calmly under her breath, steeling her nerves. “You have to be brave.”</p>
<p><em>Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once. </em>Narukami’s words came back to her. She had to do this. Otherwise, she would never find closure until the day she died. She took in a deep breath, her crutches firmly pressing against the ground, and very slowly, she moved ever-so-slowly toward her former school.</p>
<p><em>Click. Click. </em>She heard the steady tap of her crutches.</p>
<p>One way or another, she would be free of Shujin Academy and the grip it held over her life.</p>
<p><em>‘Please, no…’</em> She heard the sound of her own voice in her memories, but she didn’t stop in her approach. <em>Click. Click.</em></p>
<p>‘<em>You BITCH!’</em> <em>Kamoshida slapped her again, roughly sending her tumbling on the ground. ‘Takamaki claims she’s busy again, and it’s all because of you, isn’t it?!’</em></p>
<p><em>Click. Click. </em>The crutches fell, drowning out the sounds of her own memory.</p>
<p><em>‘Well, if your friend thinks she’s too good for this place, then maybe you’ll take her place!’</em> <em>She saw Kamoshida reaching over to her, and she tried desperately to fend him off, but she was too small, too slow, too weak to do anything –</em></p>
<p><em>Click.</em> The crutch in her right hand refused to move.</p>
<p>She remained there, rooted as memory after memory assailed her –</p>
<p>
  <em>Stop…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>‘Huh. Not quite as good as Takamaki, but I guess I’ll make do. Come on, Suzui, smile a little! Other women would beg for a chance to –‘</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Stop!</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>‘Feh. You dare resist? We’ll see about –‘</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>STOP!</em>
</p>
<p>The word was screamed in her mind, but she must have shouted it as well, because everything around her suddenly fell remarkably quiet. She panted there rapidly, her crutches gripped tight, sounds pounding wildly in her ears through the darkness of her vision.</p>
<p>“You’re safe now,” she whispered, trying in vain to calm her racing heart. “He’s not in Shujin Academy anymore. He’s in prison now. You’re safe.”</p>
<p>When next she opened her eyes, the entirety of Shujin had somehow transformed into a prison.</p>
<p>Before she could even begin to comprehend just <em>what</em> was going on, however, something else demanded her attention.</p>
<p>“Well, well,” she heard a familiar voice from her living nightmares, and she flinched.</p>
<p><em>Impossible. He can’t be here. He’s in jail</em>.<em> He can’t hurt you ever again.</em></p>
<p>Slowly, she looked at where the voice had come from.</p>
<p>“Look who’s decided to show up.”</p>
<p>Somehow, Suguru Kamoshida was standing at the entrance of Shujin Prison, holding a baton in his hand, leering at her threateningly.</p>
<p>Unknown to her, the mysterious application that had appeared on her phone had been switched on the entire time.</p>
<p>-o-o-o-</p>
<p>“Dude, it’s a prison!”</p>
<p>“We know!” Ann hissed. “But who – whose Palace is this?”</p>
<p>“Guys. Stay calm,” Ren urged, looking around for anything he could use to make sense of just why they had suddenly been thrust into the Metaverse, or any hint of who ruled this place. “Who would see the Palace as a prison?”</p>
<p>“Principal Kobayakawa, maybe?” Ryuji suggested immediately. “He sees the Student Council as his little underlings keeping the peace, and he’s the bigshot here in school.”</p>
<p>Makoto frowned. “That’s possible, but… it doesn’t feel right. It would be like a police station, rather than a prison, right?”</p>
<p>“Who else, then?”</p>
<p>“You guys know best about the other teachers here,” Ren said. “Does anyone fit this?”</p>
<p>“Well… maybe –“</p>
<p>They heard a shrill scream, and immediately looked away from each other, rushing over to where try and see what had happened. Ann got there first.</p>
<p>“What’s –“</p>
<p>Ann sank to her knees, unmoving.</p>
<p>“Who is it?!” Ryuji asked, looking past the railing.</p>
<p>Even if Ren only saw her a few times in school, he recognised the person now trembling at the prison gate, before an enlarged, menacing figure of Suguru Kamoshida. She tried to back away, but with her crutches, she was roughly grabbed by the Shadow, screaming all the while.</p>
<p>It clicked.</p>
<p>“Shiho…” Ann whispered.</p>
<p>The Palace ruler wasn’t the one in charge of the prison.</p>
<p>“SHIHO!”</p>
<p>She was the <em>prisoner.</em></p>
<p>“For real?!”</p>
<p>“Panther, WAIT!” Ren shouted, even though she was already running toward the transformed stairwell, desperately making her way toward the main prison complex that the cognitive Kamoshida was heading to.</p>
<p>“Lady Ann!”</p>
<p>“I’m not just standing here doing <em>nothing</em> while Shiho’s in danger!”</p>
<p>“Damn it,” he cursed, as she disappeared down the stairs. “Come on! We need to follow her!”</p>
<p>“Right!” A chorus of agreement rang out, each of them already in hot pursuit.</p>
<p>How had Shiho Suzui entered the Metaverse? <em>Why </em>was she even in Shujin?</p>
<p>It didn’t matter. They had to rescue her in time. They’d failed her, once, letting Kamoshida get away with his abuse for far too long. They wouldn’t fail her again.</p>
<p>-o-o-o-</p>
<p>“How are you <em>here?!”</em> she screamed. “You were – you’re in jail! I saw it on the news! HOW CAN YOU BE HERE?!”</p>
<p>“Oh, shut up, already,” Kamoshida scoffed, dragging her roughly into the prison building. “You think you can escape the prison? Fat chance. <em>No one </em>escapes this place, as long as I’m in charge.”</p>
<p>“But the Phantom Thieves –“</p>
<p>“You really think this ‘change of heart’ bullshit is real?” He moved into another corridor, and she grimaced in pain as her still-healing leg collided harshly against a wall. “Come on! I’m Suguru Kamoshida! I’m an Olympic Gold medallist! I’m king of Shujin! There’s nothing you can do to me!”</p>
<p>“Where are you taking me?” she hissed.</p>
<p>“I guess I could say that an old friend wants to see you,” he said slyly, but didn’t offer any further comment. “Shut up, now. You know the prison rules. No talking out about Kamoshida.” He leaned in toward her, and she couldn’t help but flinch, remembering all the beatings and other acts he had carried out. “<em>Or perhaps you haven’t learned your lesson yet, hmm?”</em></p>
<p>She clammed up immediately, closing her eyes tight. This couldn’t be real. Kamoshida was in jail. This wasn’t a prison, this was Shujin Academy. None of this could be real.</p>
<p>Yet… every bit of pain she now felt, and the fear she was experiencing as Kamoshida tugged her along cold, empty corridors told her that everything she was feeling was very, <em>very</em> real.</p>
<p>“In here.” She was unceremoniously thrown into a cell, her crutches thrown in after her. The shutters doors closed as soon as she enetered did so, locks appearing out of nowhere and sealing her inside. “Have fun.”</p>
<p>“Kamoshida!” she screamed, banging against the iron bars loudly. “Let me out! Someone! Help!”</p>
<p>He whistled loudly, his hands in his pocket. The sound of his footsteps banging against the metal floor faded in the distance.</p>
<p>“Help! Please!” She tried searching for <em>anyone, </em>but all that there was around her were corridors of empty cells.</p>
<p>“Help…” she whispered, grabbing tightly against the bars. “Anyone… please…”</p>
<p>She was alone. She shut her eyes tightly, her head hanging down.</p>
<p>She needed to think. What had happened? One moment, she was standing outside Shujin, and the next…</p>
<p>“Well, well,” a voice came from in front of her. “Shiho Suzui. Look who finally came back.”</p>
<p>Her eyes shot open, hope surging in her chest, that maybe <em>someone </em>had come to save her. She paused abruptly the moment she saw who was now inhabiting the cell opposite her own.</p>
<p>“You’re –“</p>
<p>“…or perhaps I should say hello, me?” Her own face was mirrored from opposite her, a virtually identical image of her leaning against the far wall of her cell, looking at her with interest.</p>
<p>“Who <em>are </em>you?”</p>
<p>This had to be a dream. A nightmare. <em>None of this is real.</em></p>
<p>“Really? A little slow on the uptake, aren’t you?” Her mirror image commented idly, pushing against the wall to step closer to the bars. “I told you. I’m <em>you</em>. Shiho Suzui.”</p>
<p>“That’s –“</p>
<p>“Let’s have a chat, shall we?” she interrupted. “But where should we begin… we have so much to catch up on…”</p>
<p>“Who are you?!”</p>
<p>“…perhaps we should talk about Ann, hmm?” The other Shiho leaned in closer, her head placed between the bars of her cell. “Gorgeous, lovely Ann. Ann Takamaki, best friend of Shiho Suzui. <em>Everyone</em> loves her, hmm?”</p>
<p>“What –“</p>
<p>“Yes…” she continued speaking. “Ann, Ann, <em>Ann. </em>Everyone’s always talking about Ann. ‘<em>Who’s Shiho Suzui,’</em> they ask. ‘<em>Oh, you mean her tagalong?’</em> they would always say.”</p>
<p>“That’s not true –“</p>
<p>“Oh, come, now. I’m you<em>.</em> I know <em>ev-e-ry-thing</em> about you,” she said, stretching the word out. “Don’t you remember? When you two first met, you said that her paintings sucked.”</p>
<p>The image of her gave a twisted grin. “Oh, if only she knew how much you <em>hated</em> her, hmm?”</p>
<p>“That’s not true! I never –“</p>
<p>“Oh, don’t pretend. The only reason why you talked to her was because you thought that the only other person you could beat down was a fellow outcast, yes?”</p>
<p>“NO!”</p>
<p>“You were all alone in that school,” she whispered maliciously. “All. Alone. No one wanted to talk to you. You thought that if you were just a <em>liiiittle bit</em> mean to Ann, that <em>maybe</em> someone would want to be your friend!”</p>
<p>“That’s a lie…”</p>
<p>“Who could have known that naïve little Ann would have thought that your offer was genuine!” Her own laugh assaulted at her ears. “And so, your <em>friendship</em> was based on nothing more than a <em>lie</em>.”</p>
<p>“Stop it!”</p>
<p>“But then, the impossible happened! People <em>wanted</em> to be friends with Ann!” The other Shiho laughed with glee. “You were so jealous of her! You hated her! And you deluded yourself into thinking that your place on the volleyball team was because you <em>actually</em> had skills! What arrogance!”</p>
<p>“I –“</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, dear. We both know the truth.” The face opposite hers twisted into a conspiratorial grin, and despite her own feelings she found herself being unable to turn away from it. “The only reason Kamoshida let you in on the team was because he saw you as a stepping stone to Ann.”</p>
<p>“That isn’t –“</p>
<p>“Oh, but let’s not forget! You knew about that from the very start, but you still tried to give your best in practice!” A grating laugh came from her again. “As though any amount of effort would let you in on the team! You <em>knew</em> from the start that Kamoshida was just using you! Even if he beat you, you continued sucking it up, thinking that just <em>maaaybe </em>you could actually achieve something!” She stared at her, as though peering into Shiho’s very soul. “Month, after month, after <em>month</em>, you let that little charade drag on, and you did <em>nothing.”</em></p>
<p>“Stop…”</p>
<p>“He beat you. What did you do? Nothing. He touched you, and what did you do?” She paused momentarily, before laughing madly. “That’s right! <em>Nothing!”</em></p>
<p>“There was nothing I <em>could </em>do! Ann would –”</p>
<p>“Oh, you tell yourself that,” she hissed. “The truth is, you were just a <em>coward. </em>You didn’t give a damn about whether he would turn on Ann next. The only reason you did nothing was because you knew Kamoshida would do something to your record in school, and who knows what would happen if word got to your parents?”</p>
<p>“That’s not true! I couldn’t let my best friend get hurt!”</p>
<p>“Are you sure?” she intoned slyly, then shook her head, and the wide grin returned. “Oh, but that’s not the best part! The only time you <em>finally </em>did something, was when he <em>raped </em>you!”</p>
<p>It was as though a dam holding back <em>something</em> indescribable finally broke, and she found herself unable to retort.</p>
<p>“That’s right! Kamoshida raped you!” the other Shiho sang. “He was so <em>tired</em> of waiting around for Ann, that he settled for second-best; a consolation prize! And when you finally took action, instead of confronting him, or anyone else, or even reporting to the police<em>,</em> all you did was try and jump off your school building as though <em>anyone would give a damn whether or not you lived or died!”</em></p>
<p>“I –“</p>
<p>“And let’s both admit it, shall we? Even with that bastard imprisoned, nothing would ever wash away that <em>filth</em> from your body! Shiho Suzui will forever be second-best, a reject, a failure, a useless little –“</p>
<p>“SHUT UP!” she screamed. “THAT’S NOT TRUE! YOU’RE WRONG!”</p>
<p>“Deny me all you want,” the other Shiho shrugged. “You only make me stronger.”</p>
<p>“What do you –“</p>
<p>“You think I’m a prisoner here?” she scoffed. “Hardly.”</p>
<p>Her hands grabbed the bars tightly, and Shiho could only watch, eyes wide, as she <em>pulled </em>the bars apart, ripping them away from their anchors entirely. She stepped forward, standing directly in front of Shiho’s jail cell, towering tower her kneeling form.</p>
<p>“I am <em>you,</em>” she hissed. “The real Shiho Suzui. I am anger. I am hatred. I am wrath<em>.</em> I am the Shiho Suzui that wants to see Shujin <em>burn </em>for everything it has allowed to happen to you. I want that <em>bitch </em>Takamaki to feel just what it is like, for once in her damn life, to be the one begging for mercy.”</p>
<p>“That’s not –“</p>
<p>“I am the Shiho Suzui that thinks prison is too lenient a sentence for Suguru Kamoshida,” she continued. “I am the real Shiho Suzui. What he did can never be erased from me, and I want that bastard to pay with his life.”</p>
<p>“I don’t –“</p>
<p>“I am the Shiho Suzui that isn’t deluded enough to think that things will ever change. I knew from the very start that Kamoshida would never stop, that Ann Tamakami was all lies and falsehoods, and that she could never save you. No one in Shujin ever gave a damn about me, so why should I give a damn about them?”</p>
<p>“That’s a lie! Ann was the only one who stuck by me all this time!”</p>
<p>“Are you sure? Or are you just deluding yourself again?” She waved a hand, beckoning someone outside of her field of vision. Ann stepped forward, appearing before her jail cell, staring at her expressionlessly. “Look closely, now.”</p>
<p>“Ann?” Shiho whispered.</p>
<p>“Truth is, I never really liked you at all, Shiho,” Ann said, idly glancing at her nails. “See, you were just this annoying girl following me around. Maybe at the start you were interesting, but then I found other friends, see, while you remained so utterly <em>boring</em>.”</p>
<p>“Ann, no! I didn’t –“</p>
<p>“Oh, yeah. I suppose I should say thanks, though. You kept Kamoshida off me like the idiot that you are.” She shrugged. “Huh. I suppose that’s the only real use you’ve had for me.” She turned to look at the other Shiho. “Can I go now? I’m late for another modelling gig.”</p>
<p>“Of course.”</p>
<p>“Ann! It’s not true! None of that was true!”</p>
<p>“Finally,” Ann scoffed. “Honestly, what a waste of my –“</p>
<p>A dark tendril shot forth from the other Shiho’s arm, piercing through Ann’s back, and she fell lifeless to the floor without so much as a scream.</p>
<p>“ANN!” Shiho rattled at the bars. “You – what did you –“</p>
<p>“<em>Really</em> now?” the other Shiho asked, incredulous. “After all this, after listening to her, you still think she deserves to live? You think that Ann Takamaki was ever your friend?”</p>
<p>“Ann <em>is</em> my best friend!”</p>
<p>“Are you sure?” her own voice asked, utterly sinister, cold fingers reaching out to touch her own. “Then why was it that you lied to Yu Narukami?”</p>
<p>“What do you mean?!”</p>
<p>“Come, now. You were never interested in what he said about that silly little soliloquy. You already <em>knew</em> that life was nothing but – oh, how did he put it? – the ‘slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’? Like an idiot, you chose to chase death, but you couldn’t even do that right.” Her twisted smile rested inches from her face. “No, no, no; what struck you wasn’t that quote. It was his final comment you were interested in – and you <em>know </em>it’s the truth – that <em>‘O, from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!’</em>”</p>
<p>
  <em>It wasn’t… it wasn’t true…</em>
</p>
<p>But then why had she looked up the entirety of that soliloquy almost immediately after class ended? Why had she kept reading it time and time again for the past week?</p>
<p>“You, Shiho Suzui, want revenge!” The other Shiho pointed at her triumphantly. “Revenge against Kamoshida, revenge against Takamaki, revenge against <em>EVERYONE!”</em></p>
<p>“That’s not true!” she protested weakly.</p>
<p>“I <em>am </em>you! Everything I said has been the truth!”</p>
<p>“YOU’RE NOT ME!” she screamed, and the other Shiho abruptly turned deathly silent.</p>
<p>She smiled, but it was with none of the wildness that there had been before. “Thank you, my dear,” she said, her voice deepening, as before her very eyes her body began to morph.</p>
<p>“<em>I am a Shadow, the true self! </em>I am Shiho Suzui, and I will let loose the dogs of war! I will show <em>everyone </em>just what it is like to be a prisoner!”</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“That in black ink my love may still shine bright.”<br/>- Shakespeare, Sonnet 65</p><hr/><p>“Panther! You need to slow down!”</p><p>“How can I?!” Her words were punctuated by sobs, even as Carmen launched another jet of flame that annihilated another Shadow in their way. “You’ve been hearing everything Shiho’s been saying! She’s suffering, and I – we’re the only ones that can save her!”</p><p>“We <em>will </em>save her, but you’re almost running out of energy already!” Ren fired back, his own Persona slashing at the prison guards that were intercepting them at every turn. “You can’t rescue her if you’re exhausted by the time we reach her!”</p><p>“We have to do something!”</p><p>“Joker’s right, Panther!” Ryuji shouted, but even his movements were now slowing slightly, after having been battling Shadows non-stop for the better part of fifteen minutes as they navigated their way through the prison complex. “You need to conserve your energy! We don’t know how much further away she is!”</p><p>They were saying all that, but Ren knew that all of them were desperately trying to reach Shiho in time. Already, they were being forced to listen to her talk to her own Shadow, to have her thoughts distorted and reflected to herself. They had to listen to just how she had suffered during her whole time in Shujin, without any of them fully realising just how she truly <em>felt</em>, and they were all powerless to act.</p><p>Ann was reacting far more strongly than the rest of them, and for good reason. She reached the end of the corridor first, looking down each fork, before shouting back at them. “Mona! Which way?”</p><p>“Lady Ann –“</p><p>“WHICH WAY?!”</p><p>Morgana stiffened, then stayed still for a few seconds, turning his head between the two branches, before pointing. “Left!”</p><p>Ann didn’t waste any more time. She disappeared from their sight past the corridor, and Ryuji swore loudly.</p><p>“Come on!” Ren urged him, Makoto and Morgana. “We’ve got to keep up!”</p><p>“Right,” Makoto replied grimly, catching up with the pair of them, turning down the corridor and once more regaining sight of Ann. She was battling yet more Shadows, but at this rate…</p><p>“Panther!” he shouted, as a Shadow sent a wave of ice that launched her backward, colliding painfully against the wall.</p><p>He switched his Persona, tearing off his mask and calling upon <em>Orobas</em> to launch the fireball of Agi at it. He didn’t waste any time watching it disintegrate, instead running up to Ann and helping her up to her feet.</p><p>“You’re injured,” he hissed. “Mona! Cover and heal her!”</p><p>“Got it, Joker!”</p><p>“<em>Truth is, I never really liked you at all, Shiho</em>.” They heard Ann’s voice from all around them, and they all stiffened momentarily, but continued battling on against the wave of Shadows. He spared a moment to look at the real Ann, but she was now transfixed upon the sound coming at them.</p><p><em>At least she’s not pressing on with her injuries,</em> Ren thought.</p><p>“<em>See, you were just this annoying girl following me around. Maybe at the start you were interesting, but then I found other friends, see, while you remained so utterly boring.”</em></p><p>“No, Shiho! That’s not true!”</p><p><em>“Oh, yeah. I suppose I should say thanks, though. You kept Kamoshida off me like the idiot that you are</em>. <em>Huh. I suppose that’s the only real use you’ve had for me.” </em></p><p>“Don’t listen to her! I’m coming, Shiho! Just wait for me!”</p><p>Ren gritted his teeth. They couldn’t be much further away, now. The prison complex hadn’t appeared that huge from the outside, and they had been blitzing their way past the many winding corridors of empty cells.</p><p>
  <em>“Really now? After all this, after listening to her, you still think she deserves to live? You think that Ann Takamaki was ever your friend?”</em>
</p><p>“I am your friend!” Ann was now back in the fray, forcefully tearing herself away from Morgana, her whip dancing in motion as she struck at a Shadow with wild abandon. “I’ll always be your friend!”</p><p>
  <em>“Are you sure? Then why was it that you lied to Yu Narukami?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What do you mean?!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Come, now. You were never interested in what he said about that silly little soliloquy. You knew that life was nothing but – oh, how did he put it? – the ‘slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’? Like an idiot, you chose to chase death, but you couldn’t even do that right. No, no, no; what struck you wasn’t that quote. It was his final comment – and you know it’s the truth – that ‘O, from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!’” </em>
</p><p>“SHIHO! KEEP FIGHTING!”</p><p>
  <em>“You, Shiho Suzui, want revenge! Revenge against Kamoshida, revenge against Takamaki, revenge against EVERYONE!”</em>
</p><p>“SHIHO!” Ann screamed once more.</p><p>
  <em>“That’s not true!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I am you! Everything I said has been the truth!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“YOU’RE NOT ME!”</em>
</p><p>Suddenly, all the Shadows in their way disappeared. For a few seconds, all they heard each of their rapid breaths, as they glanced between one another, wondering what had just happened.</p><p>Then, all hell broke loose.</p><p><em>“Thank you, my dear.” </em>The voice of Shiho’s Shadow began to deepen, and the entire prison building shook. <em>“I am a Shadow, the true self! I am Shiho Suzui, and I will let loose the dogs of war! I will show everyone just what it is like to be a prisoner!”</em></p><p>“GUYS!” Mona shouted. “The Palace is changing!”</p><p>“What do you mean?” Ren hurriedly asked.</p><p>“Mona! Where is Shiho?”</p><p>“I –“ Morgana paused, then his eyes widened. “EVERYONE! We need to get out of here, now! The building’s about to collapse!”</p><p>That was all the warning he had, before the shaking intensified, and rubble began falling from the ceiling.</p><p>“What the –“</p><p>“Run! Follow me!” Mona shouted, darting down a corridor, looking back worriedly to see if they followed as they sprinted behind him.</p><p>The corridor collapsed behind them, and just as they met a dead-end, Morgana pointed up toward the ceiling. “There!” he shouted. “Joker! Use your grappling hook! Everyone, grab onto him!”</p><p>Within a few moments, he was reacting on pure instinct, swinging from anchor to anchor of a collapsing building, the few friends he had made in his two months at Shujin grabbing onto him tightly.</p><p>-o-o-o-</p><p>Shiho lay there in the ground, trying to push her body upright, but couldn’t muster any strength to do so. In front of her, the prison complex she had been forcefully dragged into was rapidly collapsing.</p><p>“Do you see that, Shiho Suzui?” the voice of that… <em>monster</em> grated at her ears. “This is only the beginning. Shujin will be remade into a prison of <em>my </em>design, and at last I can have my justice against <em>everyone </em>that ignored what was going on under their very noses! They will feel every bit of suffering I have felt tenfold!”</p><p>“S – shut up!” she forced herself to say. “Y- you’re… not – You’re not me! Don’t act like you are!”</p><p>“Ah, yes. Shiho Suzui,” the monster commented idly. “I am the real you.” She paused, before stepping closer toward her. Shiho trembled as she stared at the monstrosity that now towered over her, a long flail in one arm, while a baton was held in the other. Her face was twisted into a hateful visage, fire and madness dancing in her eyes. “There can only be enough room in this world for one of us.”</p><p>She lifted the spiked flail, and Shiho closed her eyes shut tightly.</p><p>Then, she heard the sound of a loud impact, before a much louder thud came less than a second later.</p><p>She was… she was still alive?</p><p>“SHIHO!”</p><p>She opened her eyes wide. That voice. She knew it well…</p><p>“Ann?”</p><p>“Shiho!” She saw a pair of red boots in front of her, before she was quickly carried off the ground. “It’s me!”</p><p>“Ann?” she repeated, looking more closely at her. The person wore an entirely red outfit, consisting of a catsuit, long boots, with her face masked, but her figure…</p><p>“You’re here…” she said. “You’re really Ann…”</p><p>“I’m sorry I’m late,” Ann said between sobs. “I’m sorry you had to suffer through all that. I – I didn’t –“</p><p>“You heard…” Shiho said weakly, her vision blurry, her entire body aching. “You heard everything?”</p><p>“Just sit here, and we’ll beat your Shadow up, okay?” Ann urged. “Everything’s going to be alright now.”</p><p>“Ann… what’s going on?” she asked drowsily. Her vision was starting to blur, but she desperately wanted some answers.</p><p>“Panther!” Someone else shouted, and Shiho tried to look, but her body refused to budge. “We need some help over here!”</p><p>
  <em>Wait… that voice…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Sakamoto?</em>
</p><p>“COMING!” Ann shouted in return. “Sorry, Shiho. Just lie here and wait, okay?”</p><p>She felt a blazing burst of heat course past her, before someone else began shouting. “Skull! Mona, cover him! Queen, with me!”</p><p>“Got it, Joker!”</p><p>“Right!”</p><p>Those voices…</p><p>That was the transfer student, right? Ren Amamiya, the one from Ann’s class? And the other one… Makoto Nijima? The student council president?</p><p>What was going on?</p><p>She tried to look, but her vision was blurring now. Just a short break… she needed just a short break…</p><p>-o-o-o-</p><p>“Dude, we’re almost out of juice!” Ryuji warned, Captain Kidd and him barely avoiding another strike from the massive flail. “We can’t keep this up for much longer!”</p><p>He was right. They needed a plan. As things were, with how much energy they had spent fighting their way through the prison, they already began the fight half-exhausted, while Shiho’s Shadow was swinging her weapons with wild abandon.</p><p>It had already been going on for several minutes, now. For every attack they finally managed to pull off, they had been caught on the end of her flail several times more.</p><p>Ren gritted his teeth, calling upon <em>Kin-Ki­ </em>to be a barrier of strength to shield Makoto from the flail that had been about to collide into her. His body shook roughly from the transmitted impact, and he gasped from the sudden burst of pain, but at least Makoto hadn’t been injured.</p><p>“Joker!”</p><p>“I’m fine!” he forced out. “Keep – keep going! You’re the only one that managed any real damage so far!”</p><p>It was true. Her nuclear attacks somehow managed to bypass the Shadow’s defences, leaving deep gouges in its inky flesh. Wind, fire, ice and lightning had done almost nothing they could discern.</p><p>“Johanna!” Makoto shouted, her Persona manifesting beside her. Brilliant blue energy gathered in front of it, before being released in an orb of tremendous energy that burned away at the Shadow.</p><p>“<em>ARGH!”</em> it howled in pain and fury, her flail almost hitting Makoto once more, only being tackled aside by Ann in the nick of time.</p><p>“Come on! Keep at it!”</p><p>“<em>Why do you gnats stand in my way!”</em> the Shadow howled. “<em>Ann Takamaki – Ryuji Sakamoto – Ren Amamiya – Makoto Nijima! I know all of you! You stood by and watched, and did NOTHING!”</em></p><p>Ann paused abruptly, almost tripping over her feet. “I –“</p><p>“Panther!” Ren shouted. The Shadow saw her opening, attacking the immobilised Ann, and Ren was forced to take the hit with Kin-Ki once more. He coughed, the breath forced out of his lungs, as yet another spike of pain was transmitted to him through his Persona.</p><p>“Joker!” he heard Ryuji shout, as his Persona collided against the Shadow’s body, but dealt no damage that they could see. “Are you alright?”</p><p>“I’m fine! Keep covering Queen! We need her attacks!”</p><p>“Got it!”</p><p>“Mona! Stick to healing!”</p><p>“Alright!”</p><p>“<em>You all… you’re just as guilty as the rest of them! I know who you are now: you’re those Phantom Thieves! You waited until Kamoshida had his way with me before any of you even acted!”</em></p><p>“No, Shiho! That’s not true! We – we tried –“</p><p>“Panther, stay focused! It’s trying to distract us!”</p><p>“<em>I am wrath! I am ruin! I am Shiho Suzui, and I will watch Shujin burn!”</em></p><p>“Shut up! That’s not what Shiho really thinks!” Ryuji shouted angrily, Captain Kidd pinning its weapon in place as it struggled to get it free, allowing Makoto to land another attack cleanly. “You’re just another Shadow!”</p><p>“<em>And I suppose you know Shiho, do you, Ryuji Sakamoto? You, who suffered under Kamoshida’s thumb? Can you say that you don’t want that bastard to die?”</em></p><p>“Shiho isn’t like that!”</p><p>“<em>And what do you know about me? All you see is Ann Takamaki’s friend, her shadow, the one you’ve never spoken to in the corridors! You don’t know a thing about me!”</em></p><p>The Shadow was becoming agitated now, and Ren quickly looked for any openings he could, keeping an eye out to intercept any attacks where his friends couldn’t dodge. Something… he had to have overlooked <em>something…</em></p><p>They beat Kamoshida because he had seen himself as a king who ruled through fear and tyranny. His own cognitive servants had abandoned him in their battle. Madarame has likewise fallen because his career was built upon lies, his creations failing him when they mattered most because they were nothing like the originals.</p><p>What did he know about Shiho? Aside from the one or two times he talked to her in his first month at Shujin, everything he knew was from Ann’s second-hand accounts, and what they had heard while fighting their way through the prison…</p><p>Shiho was kind. She looked out for Ann, was willing to endure tremendous suffering at Kamoshida’s hand for her. She spoke to Ren, had smiled at him in the corridor, and talked to him when she knew him to be nothing more than a delinquent transfer student based on the rumours that had gone around.</p><p>Shiho’s Shadow – her suppressed desires – was the complete opposite. She was angry and unhinged, every bit of rightful bottled anger twisted and released all at once. She wanted everything destroyed, and didn’t care about what it meant for herself.</p><p>They were two halves of her. For all that Kamoshida was a tyrant, he had genuinely earned recognition for his skills in the Olympics. Likewise, Madarame had true talent, even if it had been limited to painting the plagiarised Sayuri.</p><p>The Shadow was a distortion of Shiho’s suppressed self. Her rage, confusion and anger were spilling forth, entirely destructive, which meant –</p><p>“She’s open when she attacks!” he shouted in sudden realisation. “She commits everything and lets her guard fall when she swings! That’s our window! All our attacks will work then, not just Queen’s!”</p><p>“<em>Pesky brat!” </em>Shiho’s Shadow cursed, her attention now drawn onto him. It raised its weapon. “<em>Ren Amamiya! You’re just as guilty as –“</em></p><p>“Carmen!” A jet of flame was launched toward the Shadow, and for the first time, something other than the nuclear attacks worked.</p><p>“<em>TAKAMAKI!” </em>the Shadow turned back toward her. “<em>I HATE YOU!”</em></p><p>“Now, Skull!”</p><p>“Come on, <em>Captain Kidd! </em>Eat this!”</p><p>A bolt of lightning struck the Shadow, and it let out a cry of pain, as its inky flesh bubbled and shook, before filling up the gouge that had been carved into it.</p><p>“Johanna!”</p><p>“Zorro!”</p><p>They had a strategy, now. They attacked from all angles, playing into her rage. Ren called upon Persona after Persona, each of them striking from different directions, as the Shadow howled with rage all the while, turning its attention between each of them. Its attention divided, the attacks were far easier to dodge.</p><p>It was a contest of endurance, now. Would they finally manage to whittle it down? Or would they run out of energy before the Shadow fell?</p><p>They carried on at that rhythm, ignoring the growing exhaustion he knew each of them must be feeling. If they failed here, Shiho would die, and they would not fail her again.</p><p>He didn’t know how much longer it went on for. They traded blows, and he had been forced to intercept attacks more than once as his friends failed to dodge attacks in their tiredness and exhaustion.</p><p>Finally, with a cry of pain, the Shadow finally burst, its form morphing and changing rapidly before splitting open in the middle, revealing its original form of Shiho Suzui.</p><p>“Stay away from Shiho!” Ann said, stepping forward, despite barely being able to even support her own weight. “Shiho – Shiho’s my best friend, and you – you aren’t –“</p><p>“<em>Never</em>,” the Shadow spat, despite having been defeated. “<em>You think this changes anything? Kill me, then. You know what happens if you do. But be warned: if you leave now, I’ll never stop hunting you till the day you die!”</em></p><p>Ann paused. Mona tugged as her from the waist.</p><p>“She’s right,” he said. “We can’t do this yet. And the Treasure – it hasn’t manifested, so we can’t…”</p><p>“But Shiho –“</p><p>“Ann,” Ren heard Shiho say, and he looked sharply at her. When had she even managed to find her crutches, and limp her way over here? “It’s alright.”</p><p>“Shiho?” she gasped. “What are you doing? You shouldn’t move! You haven’t even recovered from hospital!”</p><p>“It’s okay, Ann,” she said, and Ren stepped aside, watching as she smiled softly at Ann. “I think… I understand now.”</p><p>“Shiho…”</p><p>She continued moving toward, toward the defeated Shadow, that was staring at her with an unreadable expression.</p><p>“I was wrong about you, earlier,” Shiho spoke gently. “You suffered under him too, didn’t you? I’m sorry. I didn’t even acknowledge you, and I know how awful it must feel.”</p><p>“You…”</p><p>“I didn’t want to accept that what you said was real. I was ashamed.” Shiho supported her weight on one of her crutches, placing a hand gently on her other self’s cheek. “But I think… deep down, you are right. I do feel angry. I am jealous of Ann. I am a coward. I want others to understand just how I feel.”</p><p>“Shiho –“ Ann began saying, but Ren gestured for her to stop, shaking his head.</p><p>“But what I said is true, too. Ann is my friend. Kamoshida’s in prison, and he’s being punished for what he did. The scars he left on us won’t last forever,” she said. “We’re both right. Everything is a mess… but that’s perfectly fine.” She smiled. “We make for one messed up whole, but you’re <em>me, </em>and I’m you. Together, we’ll find out just how to move forward, okay?”</p><p>Her Shadow didn’t reply. It continued staring at Shiho. Wordlessly, it vanished in a flash of brilliant blue sparks that drifted over toward Shiho, solidifying around her. For an instant, an image of a woman in a judge’s clothing manifested behind her, a large gavel held in her hands, before disappearing once more.</p><p>“<em>I am thou, and thou art I…” </em>her fading Shadow began saying. “<em>You are prisoner neither to fate nor wrath any longer…”</em></p><p>“Portia,” she whispered. “I know you, now.” She winced in pain. “Ugh…” Shiho immediately stumbled over, barely able to stay on her feet as she pressed hard on her crutches.</p><p>“Shiho!” Ann quickly stepped over to support her, and the rest did likewise, crowding around her.</p><p>“Ann,” she said weakly. “About what I said… I’m –“</p><p>“Don’t even say it!” Ann interrupted, sobbing with relief. “Don’t say you’re sorry! There’s nothing to apologise for!”</p><p>“Ann…”</p><p>For a few moments, none of them spoke.</p><p>Then, Ryuji broke the silence.</p><p>“So, Shiho has a Persona now, huh?”</p><p>Ann, Makoto, and Morgana all glared at him in unison, and he stepped backward, holding his hands out defensively. “Hey! It’s a fair question! None of us went through this kind of shit when we got ours! We just ripped off our masks and stuff happened!”</p><p>“Learn some tact!” Ann shouted, but didn’t let go of Shiho, steadying her on her feet.</p><p>Ren exchanged a look with Makoto, each of them knowing what the other was thinking. Yes… things were going back to normal after the roller-coaster of a wild afternoon they’d had.</p><p>Shiho laughed, as Ann and Ryuji continued bickering, and Ren and Makoto joined her while Morgana tried to break up the fight. They could finally relax now that the ordeal was over. Unpacking everything they had just experienced could come after.</p><p>-o-o-o-</p><p>“I’ll walk Shiho home,” Ann said, once they had finally had some time to rest, and managed to exit from the Metaverse a safe distance away from the school away from prying eyes. “I’ll explain a little of what’s been going on to her.”</p><p>“We’ll meet up with Yusuke tomorrow to investigate Kaneshiro. We’ll need to bring him up to speed, too,” Ren said. “Shiho – take the time to rest, okay? Don’t strain yourself.”</p><p>She nodded. “It’s really true, then,” she said. “You’re all the Phantom Thieves. You’re the ones who took down Kamoshida.” She smiled gratefully. “Thank you.”</p><p>“Hey, when you’re all recovered, you can join us too, right? You’ve got a Persona and all now!”</p><p>“Ryuji, what did I say about tact?”</p><p>“Alright, alright. No fighting,” Ren intervened, before they caused yet another commotion. “It’s getting late. We should start heading home soon.”</p><p>“I live just nearby. Ann and I can walk home from here,” Shiho said.</p><p>“Aight. Stay safe, okay?” Ryuji said. He nodded over at them, before turning to Ren. “Later, dude.”</p><p>Ren glanced over at Makoto, as the other members began to disperse. “You’re headed to the station, right?”</p><p>“Yeah.” She nodded, then sighed with relief. “What a day, right?”</p><p>“If you mean batshit crazy, then yeah.”</p><p>“Language!” she scolded, but with no real bite in it. “And yes. Who knew that Suzui would have been bottling up something like that inside her?” She hung her head low. “I don’t blame her. The things she’d gone through… I was supposed to help her as student council president, but…”</p><p>“Hey,” Ren nudged her. “None of that, now. Shiho’s learning how to move forward from everything, so we need to do the same, right? As long as we make sure that none of this ever happens again if we can help it, then that’s all anyone can ask for.”</p><p>“You’re right,” she said, after a moment’s silence. “Thanks, Ren.”</p><p>“Don’t worry about it,” he said, and they began walking toward the station together. “Morgana? You alright?”</p><p>“I’m fine,” he said quietly from inside the bag. “Just a little tired. I think…” He yawned. “I’ll take a little nap. Wake me up when we get back to Leblanc.”</p><p>Heh. They were all feeling just as drained as Ren now felt, then. That was good to know.</p><p>Despite how much exhaustion was currently hitting him, and how desperately he wanted to lie down on his bed and sleep till the next day, he was feeling happier than he’d been in a long time.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yeah... took quite a few liberties mixing P4/P5 stuff, so... oops.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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